


Curious Things

by Kimmyhazard



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Avengers Tower, Extremis, F/M, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity Gems, Jötunn Loki, Loki Does What He Wants, Loki and OC are just way too stubborn for this, Original Character(s), Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Avengers (2012), Romance, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-09-21 14:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9552821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimmyhazard/pseuds/Kimmyhazard
Summary: "Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them." - Agatha Christie.Grace Harper was one of the best archaeologists in the field until her colleagues pushed her out of the field for her "crazy" ideas. Mainly, her ideas involving in-depth research regarding a certain infinity gem. After being discredited for her research, she lands a teaching job at a local college; teaching Norse Mythology. Soon, the world begins to change and Grace's research no longer seems so crazy when a Phil Coulson comes knocking on her door. Now Grace is given a second chance, however, second chances seldom come without obstacles. Her newest obstacle is in the form of her new assistant, Lucas Larson.





	1. In The Beginning, There Was The Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all,
> 
> I originally began writing this story on fanfiction but then decided to bring it here (as I am doing with most of my stories). I'm also rewriting this to make it more interesting, hopefully! So, thanks for reading and let me know what you think. Or leave kudos. Whatever it is this site has

              Her wide eyes stared in wonder at the stars forming above her in the great void. She sat on the small hill in her backyard, to her small frame then, it was a mountain. The sky was darkening; the sun leaving less and less of a pink shade to the west as her eyes fixated to make out the shining shapes above her. She’d point to the stars, connecting dots with her fingers and make constellations.  
             It was close to bedtime and Grace was not ready to tread the vibrant dreams of sleep just yet. She had heard the stories before and even though she was not one to ever be late to her father’s stories, tonight she was.  
             “Why Miss Grace Harper, what are you doing out here and not in bed?” A soft and loving male voice came from behind as he walked closer to his young daughter. She giggled into the night air as he approached her, sitting down next to her and crossing his legs loosely. “You will miss all my stories if you do not hurry to bed.”  
             She smiled brightly, her blue eyes sparkling with awe. “Dad, I’m looking for Asgard!” She exclaimed, looking back to the sky. Her smile falling ever so slightly as she let out an exasperated sigh. “But I can never seem to find it.” Defeat filling her voice as she looked to the man beside her for guidance.  
             Her father smiled patiently, leaning closer to the girl and pointing up. “It’s because you’re not looking hard enough.”  
Her gaze returned to the cosmos as she waited a few more moments before sighing once more as nothing came of it. “It’s not there, dad.” The seven year old groaned with impatience.  
             He chuckled at her stubbornness. “You’ll find it someday, I know you will. Until then, Gracie, it is bedtime.”  
“One more minute dad, please?” She pleaded, her blue eyes beckoning for the extra minute in hopes a miracle would happen in the sky above.  
             Now he was the one sighing in defeat; a loving and happy defeat at his daughter’s need for adventure and proof. “One more minute,” He mused, “but, then you’re coming inside. Got it, Kiddo?”  
She smiled, nodding eagerly as her father stood up from his spot and headed into the house to apologize to his wife for giving in so easily to their daughter.  
Little Grace Harper sat on that small hill, her knees tucked under her as she stared up to the sky for one minute longer, awaiting for the cosmos to realign; anything. After all seemed lost and hopeless, she stood; ready to go inside. Then, a bright rainbow light came to the sky; it was radiant and only shone for maybe thirty seconds. That was enough to send Grace into a fit of excitement as she whispered into the night sky “Asgard…” before rushing into the house to tell her father that the stories were real…

But that was then and then seemed so long ago…

 

* * *

**21 years to be exact...**

 

           Agent Phil Coulson walked swiftly down the long hallway of the SHIELD base, PEGASUS, with six different files in his right hand as he continued towards the main conferencing area. He was tired, functioning only on a caffeine binge and chips from the vending machine. He had finally found a few different options to hopefully appease Director Fury and their superiors. He marched right into the conference room; Director Fury had already been looking to the door, as if expecting Coulson’s arrival. “Director Fury?” Coulson breathed, Fury didn’t move as Agent Coulson placed the files on the table before the Director. “I found a new lead.”  
          Fury just nodded as he leaned forward to the files before him. Fury took a moment to skim the files of one Grace Harper, archeologist and Norse mythology extraordinaire. “Is she what we are looking for?”  
“She’s the best in her field.” Coulson commented, looking to Fury as he began to look more thoroughly at her files. “She has led teams through different archeological digs, is an expert on Norse mythology and she leads the studies on the Cosmic Cube, or as we know it, Tesseract.” He took a quick breath. “If you were looking for a specialist on the Tesseract, it’s her.”  
         Fury replied with a simple ‘Hm’ before asking. “Does she have any idea what happened in New Mexico?”  
Coulson shook his head. “She’s from New York; anyone outside that small town has no idea what happened or what was found that day.”  
         “Another one that doesn’t play well with others, the smart types usually are.” Fury raised a questioning eyebrow as he read her report more. “I already have one trouble maker to keep track of.” Fury immediately thought of his latest headache, Tony Stark.  
         “She shouldn’t be a problem; she was given a grant by Stark for her first successful dig in Wakanda. So, no, she has no direct relations to Tony Stark.” Coulson said, knowing Fury’s twitch was a reference to Stark. “From what I gather, she is dying to get her chance back into her research.”  
         “What’s stopping her?”  
Coulson hesitated slightly. “She may or may not have been discredited for her work.” Fury was about to object to Coulson’s decision, yet, Coulson was faster in his reply. “By non-believers of course; after asking Selvig, he believes her work is unparalleled.”  
        “We have Selvig working on the Tesseract as it is what use could she be for us?”  
“Selvig believes that Ms. Harper may be the key to figuring out the Tesseract and unlocking its true potential. She is our best option when it comes to folklore. It’s an approach we haven’t tried yet. We can send her to Norway, check out the church and the original location of the Tesseract.”  
        Fury, his face unmoving, exhaled sharply. “Make contact; whatever she needs for her research give it to her. Give her an assistant, supplies and transportation. Get her started.”  
Coulson nodded, hiding his satisfaction. “Right away, sir.”

 

* * *

 

  
        The sweet, spicy smell of gingerbread coffee filled the faculty break room. The Keurig percolating; the coffee sputtering out into the old brown coffee mug with a faded caricature of ‘Snoopy’. It was the first day of a new semester. Grace Harper inhaled deeply, brushing a piece of her wavy red hair behind her ear as the smell intoxicated her.  
        Here it was, 6:55 pm, her next and final class of the day at 7:15 pm. She hated teaching. It was not her first choice for a career, in fact, it was safe to say it was never a choice at all. She was an archeologist, an explorer. She would take trips to Scandinavia in her college days alongside a group of other college students, and learn the mythos of the Scandinavian people.  
        She was brilliant. She was a very promising archeologist, first in her class, often found new discoveries of the ‘Gods of Old’ at different dig sights. She was in her prime then. That was then.  
After having a fallout with some of her old colleagues, Grace found herself no longer at the top of the food chain and soon cast out of her group. Then, to add to it all, college bills began to pile up. She was on her own and needed to make ends meet. She was forced to take a teaching job at a community college teaching others of her own works, now far from the dig sights she used to love. On the brink of 28, Grace was beginning an early midlife crisis.  
       Grace grabbed her cup of warm gingerbread coffee, poured two sugar packets in, and headed out towards her class. Her trusted notebook placed securely under her arm as she walked coffee in hand.

 

       The students were already seated when she entered the classroom. Grace cracked an amused smirk as she eyed them all. ‘Eager, are we?’ she thought to herself as she placed her notebook down on the desk in front of her. The student to chair ratio was a bit off, they had placed her in a classroom designed for 50 or more students…there were maybe 20 in the class. Grace also knew that the 20 students would slowly and inevitably die off and turn into roughly twelve by the end of the semester. People took this class as an easy science credit, not knowing that there was much more to this class than just reading a text book. Grace didn’t allow for slackers in this class and graded harsh.  
        She scanned the classroom quickly, looking at her new students faces before clearing her throat. “Welcome.” She smiled slightly. “This is Norse Mythology, R516, if you are in the wrong class please get up and leave now and the rest of us will try not to stare and mock you as you go.” To her surprise, everyone stayed put. She raised her eyebrow curiously before continuing. “I am Professor Harper, in this class you are required to have an open mind and are expected to do the readings each night.” She sighed, her shoulder slightly falling in defeat. “I know this is just an easy science credit for many of you, but I will fail you, is that clear?” She heard a few snickers come from the back, and just rolled her eyes. “The only book I expect you to have is ‘The Norse Myths’ by Kevin Crossley-Holland. You have no excuse to get the book by next class. You’re dismissed.”  
       The class shuffled out one by one as Grace eyed a few students. She knew they had nothing really to go over today. Without the text, most students were somewhat useless with Norse Mythology. It wasn’t exactly taught in elementary schools. Regardless, this was her life now.  
She turned her attention to her desk, looking down at her notebook. Her most prized possession, her greatest accomplishments and defeats belonged in this notebook. It was the only thing in her life keeping her going. “I always hated the first day of class.” Grace looked up from her notes to see a man dressed in a suit, slightly balding, and a smile on his face as he looked at her. “It was always awkward for the professor and students to meet for the first time.”  
       Grace smiled slightly. “And you are?”  
He nodded as he moved closer, his hand extended. “Apologies, Ms. Harper.” His smile never fading as Grace hesitantly shook his hand. “I’m Phil Coulson.”  
       Grace closed her notebook and adjusted her top slightly as she looked back at Coulson. “And how can I help you, Mr. Coulson?” She clutched her notebook under her arm securely. She had a bad feeling about Phil Coulson. Then again, she had a bad feeling about almost everyone. Most of the time, people who came up to her wanted to mock her life’s work. She had to be careful. “I do have a busy schedule to keep.”  
       Coulson chuckled softly. “Busy staring into your notebook at night and not actually out in the field where you belong.” That startled Grace slightly, his accusation was tragically accurate yet, impossible for him to know. Before she had a chance for a rebuttal, he spoke again. “I’m here, Ms. Harper, to offer you something more than this teaching position. A chance to get back out there.”  
        Grace raised an eyebrow at Coulson, her skepticism rising. “What exactly are you offering?”  
“Your research on the Tesseract has attracted a lot of positive attention from my boss and another participating scientist.” Coulson said. “We want your help with understanding the Tesseract.”  
        Grace narrowed her eyes. “How do you know about my research?”  
“We know a lot about you, Grace.” Coulson raised a hand, trying to calm Grace as she tensed. “Not in a negative way. I would like to explain more about my organization and what we do. However, I need to know if you’re on board.”  
        “And your organization is?”  
“We are the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.” Grace just gave him a confused look. “SHIELD for short.”  
        “That’s a mouthful; never heard of you.” Grace replied disinterested.  
“We’re a more discrete organization.” Coulson said. “We are involved with the more interesting things the public does not understand.”  
        “Funny you say interesting because I’m not interested.” Grace replied sharply as she gathered the rest of her things, preparing to leave. She was defensive, it was her fatal flaw. She wasn’t always this way, she could remember a time when she wasn’t. A time where she would have thrown herself at the opportunity Coulson was presenting her. That was then.  
        “Yes, because being in a classroom and not in the field on a dig sight sounds more fun.” Coulson replied causing Grace to stop. “I am here to offer you an opportunity; a chance for you to start over and return to your research.” Coulson shrugged. “But, since you are not interested and all—“  
        Grace made eye contact once more, a smug smirk on her lips. “And if I agree to this, I would expect full control of this operation. No babysitting, my work is my work, I don’t want some ‘big brother’ to watch over me.”  
“We wouldn’t have it any other way.” Coulson said. “The only thing we ask is that you work with us. We’re here for the same cause, Ms. Harper.”  
        “And what is your cause?” She asked skeptically.  
“Education and discovery; that’s all we ask.” He replied with a grin. “We just want to know what we’re up against.”  
        Grace was growing more and more suspicious and equally as much, intrigued. “You are aware my specialty is in myths, correct? The Tesseract is just a legend.” Her eyes gave her away, like she knew something more to be had.  
         Coulson just continued to smile. “Can we count on you?”  
Grace bit her lip as she thought. The idea of being back in the field was intoxicating to her. To be back to her research was gnawing at the back of her mind. She’d give anything to go back… but could she? She sighed in a somewhat defeated manor, retaliating Coulson’s smile with a skeptical smirk of her own. “If I say to pull the plug we pull it, got it?” She had to make that notion clear.  
        “You’re the boss.”  
Grace nodded, somewhat happy with her decision. Her heart raced and she felt a little nauseous due to her nerves and excitement. “When do we start?”

Coulson just smiled.


	2. His Name Is Lucas Larson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we introduce... "Lucas"

              Coulson had sworn to Grace, before entering the jet, that she would not feel a thing. The SHIELD jet would take them from New York to Norway in less than 5 hours and no one would be the wiser. Grace hated flying; the idea of being in an enclosed space so many feet about ground level was not her cup of tea. In fact, she was so afraid to fly, she nearly backed out of this entire operation.  
Coulson had managed to convince her otherwise, however. She was now hesitantly walking up the stairs and into the jet itself. Her breaths short and harsh as she found a seat on the aisle, clutching her brown carryon bag as Coulson sat across from her. “Excited?”  
              Grace forced a laugh. “Not excited to die.”  
“We’ll be fine; I’ve flown in this thing many times.” He tried to reassure her.  
              “So where are we going exactly?” Grace asked, trying to change the subject. What was she doing here? So impulsively she decided to drop everything in her life. SHIELD seemed to have an answer for everything, Coulson said they’d take care of everything for her; all she had to do was show up. Here she was, three days after Coulson arrived in her classroom, she showed up. Her impulsiveness brought her here but, where exactly was she going? How could she trust this organization? Simple; she couldn’t, and that excited her.  
              “Right, I suppose now is a good time to explain more of what we are looking to do.” Coulson said, reaching for the briefcase he came with, unlocking the combination and handing a file to Grace. “The Tesseract, as you’re aware, is a power source said to be from the Gods.” Grace narrowed her eyes at Coulson whom cleared his throat.  
              “The Tesseract was the jewel of Odin’s treasure room. It wasn’t something gifted to us.” Grace corrected as she finally let go of her brown carryon bag and began to look at the file more. “It was said to be lost during the last age of worship by men.”  
              “I knew I found the right person for this.” Coulson joked as he continued. “In the 1940’s a German SS officer named Johann Schmidt used the Tesseract to create a weapon to destroy all who opposed him.”  
Grace swallowed hard as she stared at the images of the Tesseract. Recent images of the Tesseract. “You found it?” She asked in disbelief as she looked to Coulson. “You have the Tesseract?” He nodded in reply. “Is that where we are going, to see it?”  
              “We’re heading to Tonsberg, Norway, where the cube was originally found.” Grace nearly jumped out of her seat as she quickly rummaged through her carryon, pulling out her notebook and flipping pages furiously until she stopped on a page, showing it to Coulson.  
              “I had pinpointed that location when I first began my research. If the Tesseract existed, which apparently it does, then this is where I’d find it.” Grace smiled brightly as Coulson looked at her notes, he was impressed. The exact location of the Tesseract was scribbled in different parts of the page.  
              “How did you determine this?” Coulson asked, his tone a mixture of concern and awe. “As far as I’m concerned, no one really knows much about the Tesseract except it being a myth.”  
Grace closed her notebook, tucking it back into her back. “This ‘Schmidt’ guy and I grew up on the same stories. I also studied a ton of maps and star charts to see any correlation between the myths that were said to be from that time and compared it to today’s maps.” She laughed nervously as she realized she had gone off on a tangent. “I don’t do much with my life.”  
             Coulson nodded with a smile. “Well, this reassures me of your skills.”  
“So why are we heading to where the Tesseract was found, not that I honestly mind.”  
             “I’m hoping there are clues there that can help unlock the secrets about the Tesseract. There’s so much history and depth within the location, we just need someone who can understand it.” Coulson said.  
“You’re trying to control it?” Grace asked suspiciously.  
             “No, just trying to study it.” Coulson said. “If something this powerful is hiding on earth, imagine what else is there that we don’t know about.” Grace nodded, looking away from Coulson and out the window, her eyes wide in shock as she realized they had already taken off. She looked back to Coulson who just chuckled. “I told you it was going to be an easy trip.”  
             Swallowing hard, Grace gripped her seat tightly. “What happens when we land?” She asked breathlessly as sheer panic overtook her small frame.  
“We have a team down there excavating the sight as we speak but, we need a professional down there to tell us exactly what we are looking at.” Coulson said, cleaning up the files on the Tesseract to hand Grace files on her team. “They’re very good at what they do and will do everything you ask of them.” She flipped through them lazily before stopping on one in particular. It was a man, age 29, height 6’2, slicked back jet black hair, and piercing green eyes. He managed to catch her attention as Coulson cleared his throat. “It’s funny you turned to this profile in particular. This is Lucas Larson; he was hired to be your assistant.”  
            “Don’t need nor care for an assistant.” Grace muttered a pit in her stomach at the thought of having an assistant.  
“He’s very knowledgeable on Norse mythology, his test scores on the subject were through the roof. He’s cleared by our background check and very—“  
            “That’s nice, Phil. However, you can tell Mr. Larson to go home. I work alone.”  
Coulson sighed, his shoulders falling slightly. “Directory Fury was right about the ‘smart ones being the more difficult ones’.” He said. “I must insist on having Lucas around. You don’t have to trust him with any of your work just have him help you.”  
             Grace groaned, she had her reasons not wanting an assistant. However, she knew this was one thing that would not budge. “Fine but, this doesn’t mean we’ll be buddies.”  
Coulson chuckled. “I wouldn’t think so.”

 

* * *

 

              After their plane landed in Norway, Coulson had to convince Grace to climb into a helicopter to reach the dig sight. After many grunts and groans she finally agreed to get into the helicopter, her heart racing as it took off to the sight. However, the minute she saw the dig sight her fears vanished and excitement replaced all doubt once the copter landed.  
Grace practically jumped out, inhaling deeply as she saw people entering and exiting the worn down shrine with different tools. They were speaking her language and it enthralled her. She clutched her notebook tightly as                Coulson escorted her inside the building. “It’s a church.” Grace marveled as she became lost in her surroundings of inside the church. Her eyes immediately fell onto the Yggdrasil sculpted into the wall. “It was found here, wasn’t it?” She asked, rushing over the image, examining it carefully.  
            “She’s rather eager, isn’t she?” A voice said from behind her, a voice that sent chills up her spine that was hard to shake off.  
“Eager because I love being right.” She retorted dismissively as she turned to face the man who spoke. It was the same man from the photograph, her assistant. Immediately, Grace found herself disliking him. She knew that wasn’t exactly fair, however, something about him really wasn’t right with her. Without another word, Grace turned her attention back to the wall and ignored the man all-together.  
            “Grace, I’d like you to meet your new assistant, Lucas Larson.” Coulson said, talking to Grace’s back as she continued to examine the wall, flipping into her notebook and jotting a few random notes.  
“I’d say it’s a pleasure but, I find no pleasure in being forced to work with someone.” Grace muttered as she continued flipping through her notes.  
            Lucas chuckled as Coulson sighed, looking to him apologetically. “She takes some getting used to. Grace has an interesting way with people.”  
Lucas nodded in understanding. “No matter; we’ll be fast friends, won’t we Grace?”  
            Her eyes never left her notebook. “It’s Ms. Harper. That is how we will address each other for the rest of your time here; however short it may be.” She truly couldn’t understand why she had such a sudden dislike for this man. Her first sight of him in his file, there was something heavy between them, something she felt that was different than any other person she had ever encountered.  
            He just smirked before walking closer to her, peering over her shoulder. Grace narrowed her eyes as she closed her notebook to look at him finally; his green eyes throwing her for a moment. “I can debrief you on our exact mission here, Ms. Harper.”  
            “That won’t be necessary; I doubt you can really help me here, Mr. Larson. I’m sure you can’t even explain to me what we are looking at.” Now she was testing him. If Coulson said Lucas scored highly on mythology, now was the time to make him prove it.  
             His eyes stayed on her blue ones go as his lips curled. “This right here is the Yggdrasil, the world tree; each branch representing a different Realm of the Nine Realms.” He began pointing to different parts of the tree. “This right here is Svartalfheim, this one is Hel, this one is Jotunheim, and this one here is Asgard.” He stopped pointing as his grin grew to her angered expression. “I can keep going if you’d like.”  
             She then found a smirk of her own. “That won’t be necessary, Mr. Larson.” She replied as she became distracted again by the Yggdrasil and her own notes. So maybe, just maybe, Lucas wasn’t a total waste of space after all.  
            Lucas smirked as he walked back over to Coulson. “I think she likes you.” Coulson joked. “Anything Ms. Harper needs, help her out, okay?”  
“But of course.” Lucas said his eyes never leaving Grace as Coulson exited the church. Grace was difficult, he got that feeling the moment she walked into the church. There was something about her presence though that intrigued him further. She was hiding something, holding back it seemed. Her defensive nature showed her walls and he was determined to play at her game and shatter the girl completely. That was his true nature.

 

* * *

 

           Grace had started early the next morning. She had a feeling her first steps were to examine the wall more thoroughly, taking samples and jotting notes and drawings into her notebook. Lucas stayed clear of her the first day, knowing he would get nowhere with the stubborn girl. On the second day, he observed from a distance and waited until later in the day before he made a move.  
          He took note of how she operated. He was able to determine she was a workaholic just by the way she functioned. Work was her number one priority that was blatantly clear. He knew if he was going to get anywhere with Grace, he’d have to appeal to that notion. Lucas had also noted that Grace had trouble taking care of herself. He could not remember if he had seen her eat or drink anything within the past 24 hours (something Coulson said to be wary of).  
          Lucas decided it was time to make peace with Grace and grabbed a water bottle before walking over to the wall. He stood behind Grace, waiting for her acknowledgement. “You’re in my light.” She said flatly.  
“I came to see if you needed any assistance.” He offered. “I am, after all, your assistant.”  
          Grace exhaled through her nose. “As I stated earlier, Mr. Larson, I am perfectly capable of working on this by myself.”  
“You can call me Lucas.”  
          “Lucas implies we are friendly.”  
He smirked, diverting the conversation to his original intent, peace. “I brought you water, you really should hydrate.”  
         She quirked an eyebrow, a slight and reluctant smile appeared as she took the water. With a big swig of the cool liquid, she realized she was thirstier than she realized. “Are you a doctor now, Mr. Larson?” She asked between breaths.  
         Lucas merely snorted, this girl was infuriating. His attention turned to what Grace was working on. “Any ideas on what you’re looking for? The rest of the team seems to be focused on different areas than this.”  
Grace narrowed her eyes at his suggestion of her incompetence. “They’re focused on the other areas because they don’t know what they really should be looking at.”  
         “And what would that be?” His voice was velvet and that irked Grace the more it echoed in her ears.  
“I’m not sure yet.” Lucas just chuckled; this girl was ridiculous to him, her methods uncouth. “But it’s best we start at the source and work our way from there.”  
         “You believe this to be our source?” He asked somewhat impatiently. He needed answers, he needed to move forward and be practical; time was running out.  
Grace sighed, looking away from the wall and to Lucas. “You ask an awful lot of questions.” The two stared at each other, unmoving as their eyes met; her soft blue eyes with his intense green ones. Neither one dared to lose their staring match as they continued their gaze. Grace was the first to look away as she became distracted by the workers and Agents now leaving the church. She looked around curiously before looking at Lucas for an answer. “Where is everyone going?”  
        “It’s getting late, they’re going to rest and you should too.”  
“Rest is for those not on the verge of a breakthrough.”  
         Lucas felt a smirk tug on the corner of his lips as he replied. “I thought you were unsure of your breakthrough.” She narrowed her eyes as a small, faint smile formed on her lips before Lucas sighed. “I would be assuming correctly that you won’t be going to rest?”  
        Grace nodded. “I can’t rest yet.” She looked at the wall. “Not when something feels so off.”  
“Off?” He repeated, his attention returning to the wall. “What do you mean?”  
        Grace pursed her lips before stretching, her hands above her as she twisted and turned, blinking a few times. Her mind raced a thousand miles a minute, thought after thought, processing whatever it could. Then, it clicked. “What do you see?” She asked Lucas, turning to face him again.  
         Lucas continued to stare at the wall. “I see the Yggdrasil.”  
“Details are imperative, Mr. Larson.” Grace said, a knowing smirk forming on her lips; she saw it.  
         He narrowed his eyes at her comment and took another look at the wall. Then he saw it. He had noticed it before but had thought nothing of it. It was a minor detail but Grace seemed so sure of it, and now that he was looking at it there must be something to it. “Asgard and Midgard are in the wrong places.”  
         She beamed as his attention returned to her. “There must be a reason.”  
“Impressive observation, Ms. Harper.” Lucas commented.  
         A cheeky grin overtook her face. “I know, right?” Lucas just chuckled. “I have a lot of work to do.”  
“You do?” He asked, noticing he was being left out of that equation yet again.  
        “Boy, do I ever.” She was a little too excited, alarming Lucas slightly for what was to come next. “I have reading to do.”  
“I can help you.” Lucas offered.  
        “Reading is usually a one man job.” She said shortly. “One person per book and all that—“  
“Yes, and while you read one book I can read another.”  
        She bit the inside of her lip, thinking through the offer before finding another excuse to warn him of. To her dismay, Lucas was not going anywhere anytime soon. She was going to have to adjust. “It’ll probably be a long night with no sleep.”  
        Lucas grinned with a look of ‘Please, don’t lecture me’. “Good thing I hardly sleep.”  
She couldn’t get rid of him, which was obvious as she sighed. “Fine, but if any books are damaged from your grimy hands, you’re out of here.” She threatened to a laughing Lucas as the two left the church.

 

* * *

 

        Grace was shocked when she learned she had her own camper; SHIELD took care of their people it seemed. It was a simple camper, complete with a makeshift kitchen, bathroom, and a table that could be folded up to make more room. A pull out couch near the kitchen and a sleeping area with a bed that took up the entire room. It was comfy and definitely an upgrade from her usual accommodations from her earlier years.  
         Lucas eyed the unpacked suitcases and boxes lying around before commenting. “You’ve been studying the wall all day, haven’t you?”  
“Not all day.” She defended, opening a box filled with books and rummaging through it for the appropriate books. “I took a break, why?”  
         Lucas scoffed. “You have not unpacked and we’ve been here for two days now.”  
“It’ll be something to do later.” She replied, placing the last book on the table. “I have more important stuff to do now.” Lucas just smiled to himself as they sat at the kitchen table, Grace handed him a book on mythos and herself a book on history. “Alright Mr. Larson, here’s where you prove yourself useful.”  
         Lucas opened the book, watching Grace as she eyed him to make sure he was gentle with the old book. He sighed and began skimming the pages for any useful information, the camper growing silent as they read.

* * *

 

         Two in the morning is quite the bastard of a time; it always seemed to creep up on Grace without her acknowledging its presence. The only way she knew of the time was with the help of Lucas. She had yawned, causing Lucas to look at the clock on the stove, which in turn caused her to look as well. “Find anything?” She asked, diverting the inevitable conversation of the time back to the research.  
         He shook his head as his tired gaze returned to the book. “Nothing mentions the church. It seems to completely skip it completely and go straight to the war.”  
“Which war?” She asked.  
         “The Jotun war on Midgard, the end of days before Odin arrived to save it.” Lucas replied, detest in his voice.  
Grace smirked slightly. “Not a fan of Odin?”  
         “He’s a fool. In all the lessons of mythos, he’s always done foolish things. He rules with such detest for others and only thinks of his own personal gain.” Lucas said. “He is righteous and not fit to rule, in my opinion.”  
“Who would you have ruled then?” She asked curiously. “Who should be ruler of all Nine Realms?”  
         He smirked slightly, rubbing his temples before answering. “Loki, he seems to have a clear head on his shoulders.”  
Grace laughed outwardly, a good laugh she had not felt in a long time. “You are aware that the legends say he birthed an eight legged horse, correct?”  
        “You shouldn’t believe everything you read, Ms. Harper.” Lucas said musically.  
She shrugged. “It’s the only thing I have to believe in.”  
        “Oh?” Lucas asked curiously, believing he was finally getting somewhere with the girl.  
“Yes, and I also believe that we are slowing down this process by talking.” He sighed at her reply. “There has to be something we’re missing.”  
        “I think we should take a break to collect our thoughts.” Lucas suggested, standing from his seat. “Being tired in the morning will also slow us down.”  
“This is a break.” Grace muttered, barely hearing Lucas ask if she wanted tea. She ran a hand through her hair, her eyes feeling heavy as she put her arms on the table, placing her head on them as she continued to think.  
        “You are quite the curious one, Ms. Harper.” Lucas commented, placing a mug of tea down next to her, the smell of chamomile filling the air.  
“You’re trying to poison me.” She muttered tiredly at the tea.  
        “No, I’m trying to help you relax and hopefully sleep.” He chuckled, returning to his seat next to her. “Agent Coulson did say I had to keep you properly functioning for this mission.”  
“What is our mission again?” She asked.  
        “And here I thought you didn’t care to know.” Lucas said, smiling to himself. “We are here to find any clues to unlocking the Tesseract.”  
“By unlocking you mean using its power for bad, of course.”  
         Lucas quirked an eyebrow at her reply, what did she mean by ‘bad’? “How do you figure?”  
Grace lifted her head, the smell of chamomile overtaking her as she grabbed the mug and put it under her nose. “Anyone that wants something as powerful as the Tesseract can only want it for not so nice reasons.”  
        “You believe your employer to want to achieve ‘not so nice reasons’?”  
“Wouldn’t you?” She asked, receiving a slight nod from Lucas. “It’s a cube of power, give anyone the authority of power and they will abuse it eventually. It’s corruptive. Like that saying—“ She said. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely?”  
        “You’re not a very trusting person, are you?” He asked, watching Grace take a sip of the tea.  
She shook her head. “No one has ever given me a reason to be, not going to start now.”  
         Lucas felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach, a small ping at the realization that he actually understood Grace and what she meant. It didn’t matter, however. His plan was set, he would bring her down too when the time came. “Care to share?” He asked.  
         She gave him a look, a simple look that had a small amount of disbelief mixed with sarcasm. “You honestly think giving me tea and helping me research was enough to get me to talk to you about myself? We’re here working together because we have to, Mr. Larson. We are not and will not be friends, so no; I do not care to share.”  
        “That’s quite alright.” Lucas said, standing from his seat. “I did not actually care to hear.” He would play her game; he would be rude right back to her.  
She smirked, snorting slightly at his sudden change in tone. She noticed his height for the first time since her arrival; he was tall, towering over her small 5’1 frame. Lucas was stiff, not wasting the time or energy to narrow his eyes at Grace but rather raising an eyebrow at her laughter. “I think you’re right. It’s time to go to sleep.”  
         Lucas pursed his lips before nodding. “Do you want me to help clear your bed?”  
Grace stretched. “There’s a pull out couch for a reason.”  
         Lucas shook his head disapprovingly yet smiling. “Good night, Ms. Harper.”  
A musical hum was her response as Lucas left the camper, leaving Grace to finish her tea and open the fold out couch where she finally crashed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Remember to kudos, or review, or whatever it is this site does!


	3. Grace Harper and the Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And this is where things get complicated...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! 
> 
> I'm sure we all know who our lovely assistant is. That being said, I don't want to take up too much of your time with the whole archaeological dig site so I apologize if it seems like it moves too fast (we have a lot of story to cover!) if it does get too fast, let me know and I'll slow it down! Otherwise... it's time to start getting into the secrets behind Grace Harper and Lucas Larson.

         Lucas was up early; it could be argued that he did not sleep at all. He had a lot on his plate right now, he knew other parties would be growing impatient soon. It wasn’t his fault, they sent him here for a reason. A reason he did not fully, nor truly care to understand. It was passing the time until the Tesseract was in his hands. For now, he had to play the game. A game he wasn’t even sure he could win with the stubborn and unmoving piece, Grace Harper.  
         He walked into the church and over to where Grace had been working, noting her absence. He was almost stunned to not see the girl already at work. He examined the wall once more, seeing if there were any other little hints or clues he missed. To be honest, Lucas was slightly insulted that Grace had found the discrepancy of Asgard and Midgard, and not him. It was his specialty after all.  
        Pursing his lips, he backed away from the wall and noted the different agents walking into the church, none of which were his pain in the behind friend, Ms. Harper. He sighed, realizing she probably was still asleep. He inhaled sharply through his nostrils and headed out of the church and to her camper, feeling as though he were just there not that long ago.

* * *

 

        He stopped short, standing outside Grace’s camper door. ‘Music?’ He thought to himself before clearing his throat and knocking. “Ms. Harper?” He called. “Ms. Harper it’s time to get back to work.” He called again, nothing. Finally, after giving in, he opened the door. Against his better judgment and upbringing, Lucas walked into the camper. The sound of music he had never heard before flooding his ears as he looked around.  
        On the kitchen table were three books opened to different pages, a laptop on top of one of the books, the floor had opened boxes everywhere, making it difficult to walk, and the pull out couch still in the wall. He heard a noise coming from the bedroom as the familiar small frame of Grace walked out from the bedroom wearing a long tank top and boxers, her hair up in a ponytail, a book in front of her face held with one hand, the other holding a half-eaten apple. “Ms. Harper?” Lucas cleared his throat after nearly choking on them.  
        She looked around the book, taking a bite of the apple before realizing she wasn’t alone. “You’re late.” She said as a matter-of-fact.  
“Late?” Lucas asked, averting his eyes to something other than the partially clothed red head.  
        “Yes, I was hoping you’d be here earlier.”  
“I didn’t know you required my presence here.” Lucas commented before being distracted by the music. “What on earth are you listening to?”  
        “David Bowie helps me think.” She said with an innocent smile and another bite of the apple. “I have determined we’re going at this wrong.”  
“Are we?” Lucas asked.  
        “Yes, none of these books mention the church and anything online. Well, that was a bust.” She said, folding the book in her one hand and placing it down. “I was up all night skimming these, nothing.”  
Lucas cautiously stepped around the opened boxes and to the kitchen table to see the last few pages she had open. “Norse History seems to have nothing?”  
        “Nothing on what we need.” She sighed. “It stops at the war and that’s it.”  
Lucas realized exactly what their problem was. “We’re not looking at the right books.” Grace gave him a knowing look as though she determined that part already. “We need a book based on the Jotun’s.”  
         “A book on the—“ Her eyes went wide with realization. “Of course, why didn’t I think of that?”  
Lucas smirked arrogantly. “I’m useful to your cause.”  
         “I would have figured it out eventually.” She said flatly before looking in a few other boxes.  
Lucas sighed as she bent over, remembering she was still without actual pants. “I understand the music but, why are you not wearing pants? Does that also help you think?”  
         She stopped looking in the box before groaning. “Honestly, I forgot. I had put on my pj’s after you left and then realized we had been going about this all wrong and didn’t think to change.”  
She admitted as she walked over to him, handing him a book on the history of Jotunheim. “Start looking.”  
        Before he could protest or ask what she was up to, Grace stumbled to her laptop and began typing furiously. “What should I expect to find, or look for?” He asked.  
“Read, Mr. Larson. Read and it will come to you.” She sang musically, only to begin humming to ‘Golden Years’ by David Bowie. He felt an amused grin tug on his lips as he shook his head, looking back down at the book.  
      _‘The church, the guardians who were trusted with the Tesseract in order to keep balance; they were trusted with this task by Odin, himself, as a token of sincerity for the war.’ He kept reading. ‘The church was given the mark of the Yggdrasil as a symbol of unity.’_ He sighed. “This says nothing about the discrepancy.” Lucas said, looking up from the book to see a beaming Grace.  
       “Maybe it’s not a discrepancy.” She suggested, tearing away from the laptop and looking at Lucas. “What if it’s done purposely?”  
“I wonder what the purpose of that would be.” He asked.  
       “Oh Mr. Larson, don’t you see?” She asked. “It’s a clue.”  
The realization hit him like a ton of bricks causing an unwelcomed yet hard to hide smirk. “A clue, well then, where does this clue take us?” Grace stumbled around the boxes on the floor and to her bedroom once more, only to reappear just as quickly as she left, holding her notebook and flipping through pages. “You carry that book around everywhere.” It was more of an observation than question.  
      “Yes.” She stated simply, brushing a stray piece of red hair behind her ear. “Now focus on the clues, Mr. Larson.”  
Lucas closed his book and watched Grace fumble through pages. “The clue is that this was not a discrepancy but a deliberate move; why?”  
       Grace had managed to find her pen in all the clutter and began making notes, feverishly writing as Lucas stumbled closer to her. Lucas looked down at her writing, noticing drawings and random gibberish, not much seemed to make sense at a glance. Grace quickly closed the book, grinning. “I think we need to explore the rest of the church.”  
      “You think the answer is there?”  
“I know it’s there.” She was beaming as she clutched her notebook tightly and scrambling for the door.  
      “Ms. Harper.” Lucas called to her, stopping her in her tracks.  
“We don’t have time for whatever it is, Mr. Larson!” Grace reminded him.  
       Lucas just smirked. “Yes, I am well aware of that and I’d love to get going as soon as possible. However, you may want to put on pants?”  
Grace looked down at her boxers before blushing slightly. “Right, pants, got it.” She said before scrambling to her bedroom to find a pair of jeans. Lucas chuckled as he walked over to the CD player, pressing the power button to return the camper to a quieter state just as Grace rushed out of her bedroom and for the door. “Let’s go!”  
       Lucas shook his head, amused at how Grace functioned, or rather, her lack of functioning skills and followed her out to the church.

 

* * *

 

 

         Sue Storm was the first to arrive to the conference room of the Baxter Building, followed by Ben Grimm soon after. She smiled warmly at the man, more commonly known as ‘The Thing’ to the public eye. “How are you, Ben?” She asked.  
         He simply sighed, his rock chest rising and falling as his brow narrowed. “I’d be better if we didn’t have to talk to the Fury guy again.”  
Sue nodded, her smile turning more sympathetic as she looked to the large communication screen on the far wall. “He’s one of the good guys, Ben. Things are changing and we have to be ready.” She kept her eyes on the screen as she heard Ben sit down with a thud at the conference table. “There are more people like us out there, more people willing to make good in the world.”  
        “Yet there’s still a whole lot of bad.” Ben commented. She turned her attention to Ben. “I know Fury asked Reed to look into the strange readings from that cube. From what I gather, it’s a threat.”  
Sue pursed her lips; folding her arms across her chest. “I’d rather it in the hands of the good guys, at least.”  
        “All that energy, all that power, is anyone considered a good guy with it?” Ben was right.  
The doors to the conference room slid open, revealing a distracted Reed Richards; wielding a coffee in one stretched arm and a file in the other. He hummed in recognition to the room before sitting down at the head of the table, placing his coffee to the side and the files down gently in front of him. He looked up at Sue and Ben, smiling before looking unsure. “Johnny?”  
        Sue shrugged. “You know him.”  
“I told him we had a meeting today.” Reed said.  
       “You expect that kid to listen?” Ben muttered.  
Reed sighed. “No, but I expect him to at least take some form of responsibility.” Ben simply rolled his eyes.  
       “That’s Johnny. He’s all about the fame of being a hero, yet not so keen over the responsibility.” Sue commented dryly at her Brother’s irresponsible manners before changing the subject. “Now what is today’s meeting about?”  
Reed pursed his lips before responding. “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me. I’m not really sure what Fury wants from us, exactly. From what I gather from our last meeting it does involve the Cosmic Cube and how to utilize its energy source.”  
       Ben stiffened slightly. “And how does that involve us?”  
“I will assume for help.”  
       Sue wasn’t convinced as she wrinkled her nose. “It doesn’t sound safe.”  
Reed nodded as he folded his arms. “An energy source like that, no. It’s far from safe. However, if we can utilize it for the greater good—“  
       “You’re opening way too many doors for its misuse, Reed.” Ben commented. “People like Victor would want to get their hands on it in a heartbeat.”  
Reed picked up his coffee mug, taking a quick sip as he talked into it. The sliding doors to the conference room opening as he spoke. “Then maybe they’re asking the right people for help.”  
       Johnny struts into the conference room, aviators shielding his eyes as he unzipped his leather jacket. “What I miss?”  
“You’re late, kid.” Ben growled.  
       Johnny shrugged, removing his aviators as he sat down next to Sue. “Seems like I’m right on time, that pirate guy isn’t even here yet.” He motioned to the screen.  
“He’s not a pirate, Johnny.” Sue corrected him.  
      “You can’t tell me he doesn’t look like one.” He defended his stance.  
“Kid’s got a point; sometimes people are what they look like. I mean, Johnny here looks and acts like a clown.” Ben said, receiving a small smile from Sue.  
      “Hey, you’re right Ben; and you look like a rock and have a rock for a brain.” Johnny retorted.  
Reed sighed, changing the conversation before an inevitable fight broke out. “That’s enough guys. Just try to be on time, Johnny. We have a lot going on.”  
      Johnny clicked his tongue before pointing to Reed. “You got it.” Ben simply rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath as the screen turned on before them, revealing Director Fury.  
“Fantastic Four, thank you for meeting with me on short notice.” Fury said, Johnny snickering slightly at the sight of him.  
      “Of course, Director.” Reed nodded, his eyebrows knitting together with somewhat concern. “Forgive me for not understanding but, why exactly are we having this meeting?”  
“I have sent you files and readings from a previous test done by our specialists on the Tesseract, or Cosmic Cube. I was hoping to not be too forward by asking we send you a few more readings.”  
      “Listen, Director, with all due respect.” Ben started. “This thing is dangerous, it could be even more catastrophic in the wrong hands. What exactly is our business with it?”  
Nick pursed his lips before nodding. “I’m glad you asked. I would be worried if you didn’t have questions. We need to bring the world into a new age, Mr. Grimm. More and more are we experiencing terrestrial beings that are coming to this planet and more now than ever we need resources to help power our defenses.”  
     “Like weapons?” Reed asked, quirking and eyebrow.  
Fury held up his hand defensively. “That is a last desperate measure. What I am asking for is knowledge on this cube as an energy source on how we can forward our research and stability as an entire planet.”  
      Reed look to Sue, Ben, and then to Johnny. He saw the look of concern on their faces before nodding. “Send away, Director. I’ll see what I can do.”  
Fury nodded. “I thank you for your assistance, the files will be over momentarily.” With that, the screen went dark.  
      Reed sighed as Sue spoke. “Do you believe him?”  
“Can we believe him?” Ben asked. “If he’s asking us to help unlock any sort of weapon, I’m not for it.”  
      “I know, Ben.” Reed said. “However, I am curious about these readings. Maybe if we can look at them, we can determine just exactly what Fury is looking for.”

 

* * *

 

     

       She was infuriating, which was an understatement. He was on borrowed time and needed information. He needed to know everything about the Cosmic Cube; how to wield it and more importantly, its exact location. He needed access to it and The Other brought him to her. That infuriating beast of a girl who was impossible to work with.  
       For nearly two weeks now, he had tried being nice. He tried giving her what she wanted and assisting the best he could. Yet, every time he would try to speak to her, she had other plans to squander that. She came back at him with retort after retort, banter after banter. She drove him absolutely mad! However, he could never show that. This was a delicate procedure, he had to be patient.  
      _‘She’s biting her lip again.’_ He thought to himself as he watched Grace stare at the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest as he noticed the intense focus before him. They had been circling the same lead for two weeks now, with no answers. However, in these two weeks he began to notice things about Grace. A little too much about her for his liking. How she bit her lip when deep in thought, how she’d put her hair behind her ears when nervous. The worst was the way her face lit up when excited over a new discovery.  
        Disgustingly enough, he would never deny that she was very intriguing. And not just because someone else had interest in her. Someone far greater and far more powerful than her puny mortal mind could grasp.  
He had read her file, albeit limited, given to him by Agent Coulson. He had read she was a pariah of sorts among the archeology community. A once critically acclaimed archeologist turned recluse because of her outlandish research in the existence of the Cosmic Cube.  
        That wasn’t exactly what impressed him. No, what impressed him was how accurate she was in the little research he had read of hers. She was spot on from what he understood, everything he had known to be true about the Cube, she had guessed accurately or at least, very close. Yet, she was still outcast by her peers; that was something he could relate to.  
        He watched Grace begin to pace back and forth at the Yggdrasil etching on the wall, her eyes never leaving it. Lucas honestly doubted she even knew he was there. Rolling his shoulders back, Lucas walked over to the archaeologist; his eyes looking to the wall as he stood next to her. “Ms. Harper, any updates?”  
        Grace bit her lip again as she debated her next words carefully. “Patience is a virtue, Mr. Larson.” She said, no real malice behind her words for once. Lucas felt a smirk tug on his lips. Yes, even though she kept her distance emotionally from him, she was still somewhat growing on him. “But, I have something.”  
        “You do?” He asked, masking his shock.  
Grace nodded. “Unfortunately, I need your help.”  
         He nearly fell over. “How can I be of assistance?”  
“I need access to a few files.” She said, thinking for a moment. “I need the latest readings on the Tesseract. The ones Dr. Selvig recorded a few weeks back, and more recent. I need any and all history on spikes in readings.            Can you grab them for me and meet me in the camper?”  
Lucas nodded, understanding his task. However, what he didn’t understand was where this lead was heading. “What are we looking for exactly?”  
        “That’s the fun part.” She said with a grin.  
“More research?”  
        “Why of course.” She was a little too eager to read more into her books. “What could be more fun?”  
“Your idea and my idea of fun are two very different things.”  
        “Then what are you here for, Mr. Larson, if not for discovery?” She asked before heading to the exit. “Meet me in my camper in twenty minutes. Take any longer and you will officially be the worst assistant ever.” He merely rolled his eyes in response as he watched Grace leave.

* * *

 

 

         Lucas made his way to the largest trailer within the excavation site. The trailer held most of the servers for communications back to SHIELD and of course, files. However, most of the files had redacted information, specifically regarding locations of certain Cubes. SHIELD wasn’t very trusting, or rather, they didn’t trust anyone that didn’t have the rank.  
        He entered the trailer, immediately greeted by an older SHIELD agent with a smile on his face. “How can I help you?”  
“Ms. Harper requests the latest readings on the Tesseract as well as any dealings with the artifact; any discrepancies.” Lucas said. “Mainly files on Dr. Selvig’s research.”  
        The man nodded. “She’s a funny one, that Ms. Harper. I see her head into the church often.” He began to head to a specific large filing cabinet and proceeded to unlock it.  
“She’s intense with her work. “Lucas explained.  
       “Brilliance is not something to downplay.” The man said with a chuckle as he shuffled through the cabinet. “You can’t deny she’s something else.”  
“Brilliant or crazy.” Lucas muttered.  
       “They say the crazy ones are better off.” He said, pulling out a decent sized file folder and a flash drive to go with it. He walked back over to Lucas and handed him the items. “I’ve read some of her old research; you can tell she really enjoys what she does.”  
        Lucas nodded as he took the items. “That may be true but, it’s unhealthy to have an obsession.”  
The man just shrugged. “With a story like hers, sometimes you need a distraction.”  
        Lucas was unsure of what the man actually meant by that but nodded all the same. He thank him before leaving the trailer and headed for Grace’s camper.  
He took a peek inside the folder as he walked, reading to make a break for it with his new information. That was until he realized, he needed Grace to explain what the heck he was actually looking at. “Looks like I’m stuck with her longer.” He let out an exasperated sigh.

 

* * *

 

 

         Grace found herself sitting on the trailer floor as David Bowie played in the background. The music was much lower than any other time she had blasted it through the camp. In her hands was a folded, old photograph that was tattered on the corners. A photograph she didn’t dare unfold. She knew what was waiting for her in the image. She wasn’t ready to face it just yet.  
          This discovery was her chance to prove herself to all who doubted her. She had to, she needed to. Her obsession with her research was all she had left. She had lost all control once when she trusted someone she shouldn’t have. Now she was determined to change her fate. Nothing was going to stop her, not even her annoying assistant.  
          Sure, she was growing a little used to his existence. He was someone to yell at. However, he did know a thing or two about Norse mythology. In fact, he practically rivaled her knowledge. It was refreshing to have someone like that around.  
          Grace closed her eyes and immersed herself in the music as she gently held the worn photograph. Her thoughts were still racing between the Tesseract, David Bowie, the photograph and Lucas. She was so lost, she didn’t hear Lucas enter the trailer until he cleared his throat. Grace opened her eyes and quickly stood, tucking the photograph into her back pocket where it belonged. “Eighteen minutes; you got lucky.” She said as she walked over to the table.  
          Lucas handed her the flash drive and the folder. “The man in the trailer is very talkative.” He mentioned in passing as Grace plugged the flash drive into the laptop. Lucas opened the folder and began to look at the charts. Grace looked away from the downloading file on her laptop and glanced down at the chart.  
          Dots spread out across the map, decorating and pin pointing certain spikes and low points. Lines connecting the dots to show the incline and decline. However, something about the patter of dots resonated with Grace, Lucas saw it in her confusion. “Ms. Harper?”  
          The patterns of the wave lengths were making her sick to her stomach as she reached for her notebook, flipping through pages frantically. “I’ve seen this before.” She said softly.  
Now Lucas was concerned, he had never seen Grace so startled in the last two weeks. Nothing really seemed to startle her. Grace opened the page in her notebook and placed it next to the chart. The readings from the chart matched exactly what Grace had sketched, minus the lines. “These are very similar.” Lucas admitted.  
          Grace slowly nodded. “I drew this when I was seventeen.” She could barely swallow as she remembered the day perfectly. She had a dream with the same patterns, however, she thought they were a constellation of sorts. Yet, she never found the constellation in the sky.  
          Now Lucas was beginning to feel uncomfortable. “How could you have this information?”  
She shrugged. “I dreamt it. I thought it was a constellation. I kept thinking the sky just shifted and the constellation was lost but, it’s the same spikes. Look.” She said, pointing to different high and low points. “It’s almost identical.”  
          The pieces began to fall in place now. Although he didn’t understand what it meant just yet. Grace Harper was important to the Other and to Him. He just didn’t know how. “What does this mean?”  
Grace laughed nervously as she moved her hair behind her ears. “I have no clue. “She turned her attention to the laptop now. The video had loaded with tests on activating the Tesseract. The two watched in awe, it was incredible footage. The man in the video was Dr. Selvig. He began to explain how the Tesseract was able to travel across space and time and open doors to other possibilities. “It’s a power source.” Grace confirmed. “Able to give us access to infinity.”  
          Lucas thought for a moment as Grace continued to watch. Somehow, Grace was able to obtain the information about the spikes years before testing had ever began on the Tesseract. She had no way of knowing it yet, here it was. It left a bad feeling in his gut. “Ms. Harper?” Grace stopped watching the video now, noticing Lucas had a change in mood. “If the Tesseract works like a door; and doors open from both sides.” He chose his next words carefully. “What if someone or something already opened that door and in doing so, somehow gave you the exact data from the charts?”  
           Grace’s expression dropped as she looked back at the video. A look of fear replacing her confident one as she continued to watch the testing of the Tesseract.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Remember to leave kudos or comments or whatever!


	4. A Different Approach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace and Lucas find themselves taking a different approach to the site... and of course, they argue about it. Why wouldn't they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, does anyone know if there is an easier way to format these stories? Right now, I'm going through each paragraph and spacing it properly. It takes FOREVER! Yeesh!
> 
> Anyway, thank you guys for reading this series! Keep commenting and giving kudos! I'd love more comments, I love chatting with people! So don't be afraid to leave something, I usually reply!

                Grace tossed and turned in her bed that night; not that her getting little sleep was really different from any other night. She soon found herself lying awake in bed and staring up at the camper ceiling. She had so many thoughts running through her head that night. Something Lucas had said really stuck with her.  _Doors open two ways, maybe someone or something gave you that information._  That thought resonated within her. If the Tesseract had been proven real, then who’s to say other worldly beings weren’t? Maybe someone  _was_  trying to contact her. Her obsessive side began to come out. “Dad?” She said softly to the empty room.

                Since the death of her Father, Grace was convinced he moved on to Valhalla. Her research of the Tesseract, Asgard, and Valhalla at the end of the day was a red herring for something more. She believed for so long that if she could get to Asgard, maybe, just maybe, she could get to Valhalla and possibly be reunited her Father again.  

                This research is exactly what outcast her. People called her crazy,  _he_  called her crazy. The thought of  _him_  actually made her nauseous as she tossed and turned in bed. What did  _he_ know anyway?

                Maybe this was the proof she needed to keep going, maybe if other-worldly beings were trying to contact her; who was to say that the other-worldly being wasn’t her Father? She sighed into the night, sleep would be impossible now.

 

* * *

 

 

                Grace wasn’t the only one unable to sleep. Lucas paced in his camper back and forth; frustrated. Anger pulsed through him as memories rushed through his head. The feeling of ‘falling’ prominent, the torture he felt when he met  _The Other_. It was becoming too much as his hands found their way to his head. He was anxious, he needed the Tesseract, he needed a way out, and he needed vengeance.

                 _The Other_  came to him at his most vulnerable time, offering him something more than he could ever imagine. A way out, a way to rise above. He would have his day and nothing would be able to stop him. His delay was due to Grace, everything he had was riding on this girl.  _The Other_  would not have sent him here for nothing. She was important in understanding and giving him access to the Cube. Yet, by the Gods, she was making this harder for him.

                He sighed, finally calming himself and ceasing his pacing. He was running low on patience and knew he had to step things up. He needed to figure out how to get closer to Grace, get her to trust him, and then reveal all the secrets she knew about the Tesseract. He’d thought maybe stealing her notebook would be easier than trying to get close to that woman. However, trying to  _read_  her notes in the first place was a headache in itself. He was out of options, he was stuck with Grace. That was that.

 

 

* * *

 

                The next morning, Lucas found himself irritable and tired. He knew he would quickly have to shake off his mood before seeing Grace, lest he wanted her to pick at his attitude. He rubbed his eyes as he dressed and left his camper to try and start the day right. He found the concession camper and made two cups of coffee and swiped a newspaper from another Agent. He was off to a positive start has he made his way to Grace’s camper. He stood outside, slightly concerned to not hear that infernal racket of “David Bowie” blaring through the camper.

                He knocked on the camper door, careful not to spill the coffee. After no response, he sighed and looked around to see if he were alone. After confirming no one was watching and with a nod of his head, the camper door opened. He walked in, bracing himself for the banter of the day. “Ms. Harper?” He called throughout the silent camper. “Ms. Harper, I brought you breakfast. I figured we’d start with the—“ Lucas saw Grace with her head down on the kitchen table, fast asleep. A smile crept on his face as he walked over to the table. He placed the coffee down quietly and pulled the opposite chair out and sat down.

                “I’m not sleeping so don’t steal anything.” Grace groaned into the table.

Lucas nearly jumped as he stared incredulously at the woman.  _Of course she wasn’t asleep_ , he thought to himself,  _she never sleeps._  “I brought you coffee.” Grace groaned in response. “Ms. Harper, did you sleep at all?”

                Grace finally lifted her head to look at him, dark purple circles had formed under her eyes from her lack of sleep. “I had a few hours.” Lucas gave her a disapproving look. “Coffee; fabulous. Good assistant.” She said tiredly before taking the coffee in front of her and sipping it.

                Lucas ignored her last comment before asking. “Any new leads?”

Grace hummed into her coffee before tensing up slightly. “Yes, actually.”

                Lucas pursed his lips. “That’s a start.” He took a sip of his own coffee now, looking down at the newspaper he had stolen from another Agent. The article headline reading ‘ _Billionaire Begins Construction on Clean Energy Tower’_. This news didn’t really interest him at the time.

                Grace scrunched her nose slightly as she saw the picture of the Billionaire Playboy from across the table before returning to the conversation. “Yes and no.” Lucas raised a curious eyebrow, his gaze still on the newspaper as he listened to Grace scramble to find words. “Yes I have a new lead, however, I don’t exactly know what to do with it.”

                “Care to enlighten me?” Lucas saw the hesitation in Grace’s expression. “It might help being able to talk it through.”

                Grace sighed, taking another sip of her coffee. “I think we need a new approach to the wall.” She put the coffee cup down and began to bit her lip in thought as she processed her next words. After not being able to sleep for most of the night, Grace had left her bed to watch Dr. Selvig’s videos on the Tesseract. She took note how on the energy usage and reactions of the Tesseract. It was an energy source, she had to remember that in her work. “We need to fight fire with fire, use energy with energy.”

                “What do you mean?”

“The Tesseract was found in the church, right? It used an energy source. Energy doesn’t just  _disappear_ , it’s everywhere.”

                Lucas caught on. “You’re thinking that the Tesseract left energy behind, after all these years?”

“Seventy years to be exact.” Grace said. “And yes, I do. I think if we can trace the energy source, maybe we can uncover why there’s a misprint on the Yggdrasil.”

                “How do you propose we do that?”

“We are  _lacking_  in the science department here. If we had a machine like Selvig’s, we would probably be in good shape.” Grace folded her arms.

                Lucas contemplated for a moment. “Maybe, Ms. Harper, we don’t need a machine for that.” He said thoughtfully. “All Dr. Selvig did was poke and prod at the energy source. The Tesseract’s energy will react with almost anything relating to an energy source. Maybe we just need to agitate it.”

                Grace continued to bite her lip as her mind began to process that option. It was possible, as seen in the videos, Dr. Selvig only had to combine a wave of energy to the Tesseract and it would react. It was possible to reenact the same concept, but how. For the first time, Grace genuinely smiled; something she solemnly did as of late. Lucas was stunned at first, this was  _very_  out of character for the Grace he had come to know this past week. “Then that’s what we’ll do.” The smile faded almost as quickly as it came. “We need an energy measuring device, some sort of energy meter from supplies.”

                “Anything specific?”

Grace shook her head. “Anything that can measure flux of energy.”

                Lucas nodded. “See? I can be useful to you.” He teased.

Grace smirked slightly. “You’re as useful as a fork in a bowl of sugar.”

                Lucas chuckled, for once Grace made a joke that wasn’t intended to be a vicious attack. “I will meet you in the church.”

 

* * *

 

 

                After asking multiple Agents on which was a more useful tool, Lucas left with two measuring devices. Two devices he had no real interest in, nor concern for needing. If he had his way, he’d use his own method for finding the energy source. However, that would give away too much unwanted attention. He looked at the side of one of the measuring devices to see in large lettering  _Stark Industries_. He thought for a moment as he continued walking, why did that name sound familiar?

                As he continued to ponder that information, he walked into the main entrance of the church to see Grace already at the wall. She scribbled away in her notebook as Lucas walked over, holding out the measuring devices. “Any of these will do?”

                Grace looked away from her notebook to see what Lucas had presented her. She bit her lip as she closed her notebook and took the devices. Upon further examination, and to her dismay, the Stark Industries device was what she needed. “Why does SHIELD have a Stark Industries product?”

                “I’m not sure who that is.” Lucas added.

“Stark? Tony Stark? Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist?” Grace looked at him curiously. “You know, weapons dealer gone hero?” She was in slight disbelief at how Lucas did not know of this man. “He’s super famous for his work.”

                Lucas shrugged, fearing the worst for not knowing information. He had a bad feeling that Grace wouldn’t let that slide. “I apologize for not knowing.”

Grace’s lips curled into a slight smirk as she nodded. “It’s quite refreshing to meet someone who doesn’t know and or worship the man.” She looked at the device a little more thoroughly. “This will do, Mr. Larson.” He knew that was the closest he’d get to a ‘Thank you’ as he watched Grace fiddle with the device.

                “Do you know how to use it?” He asked curiously.

Grace shrugged slightly as she hit the device with her hand. “Sure, it shouldn’t be too hard.” Lucas just rolled his eyes, amused at Grace’s technique… or rather, lack thereof technique.

                He watched her struggle with turning the device on, surely it couldn’t be  _that_  hard? “Do you need some assistance?”

                Grace grumbled. “I can figure it out.” She began to shake the device. “Maybe it’s broken?”

Lucas sighed. “I doubt it is broken, you mustn’t be doing it correctly.”

                Grace narrowed her eyes. “Then  _you_  figure it out, Mister.” She shoved the device at his chest. Lucas stumbled as he balanced the device against him before arranging it comfortably. He began to examine the device for a switch or some sort of clue as to how it worked. Grace just smirked. “See?”

                Lucas gave her an unamused look before turning the device over. “It’s not my fault you’re incompetent with this technology, Ms. Harper. Aren’t you supposed to know these things?”

                Grace scoffed. “You’re no better. My specialty is not in the technology but the  _science_.” She folded her arms across her chest and impatiently fidgeted. After a few more failed attempts by Lucas, she grabbed the device from him. “You’re not helping.”

                Lucas glared now. “Oh come now, Ms. Harper. We were getting along, what has happened?”

“Getting along?” Grace let out a sarcastic laugh. “How could you possibly think we were  _getting along_? You are here to assist me, even though you’re doing poorly at it.”

                “I’ve been nothing but helpful to your  _uncooperative_  nature.” Lucas said as a matter of fact. “You’re not easy to work with.”

                “Oh  _boohoo_ , Mr. Larson. Life isn’t easy, trust me.” She said.

“I never said it were, however, you could at least accept my help in this situation.”

                “I don’t need your help in this situation!” Grace raised her voice now, the two unaware of a third party entering the room as they argued. “You’re annoying!”

                “ _Annoying?_ ” Lucas quoted with a laugh. “You’re  _insufferable._ ”

“You’re frustrating.” She went back.

                “And you’re impossible.” He sighed in retaliation.

“Well you—“Grace eyed him up and down, struggling to find a good insult. “You have really stupid hair!”

                He scoffed and with a quick eye roll, he went back at her. “You have terrible taste in music.”

Grace’s eyes went wide as she gasped. “You take that back!”

                “Taking it back does not make it untrue.”

The third party, Agent Coulson, finally cleared his voice to make his presence known. Director Fury had asked Coulson to oversee this project, it was  _his_  project at the end of the day. He was in charge of any and all changes and discrepancies; more importantly, he was in charge of results. Grace and Lucas were his key archeologists and they were hired specifically by him to take this case. He had all faith in them… that was until he walked into the church to hear them bickering like children.

                He watched as Grace held up an unfamiliar device n her hands as she flailed it in the air. Lucas folded his arms in annoyance, yet a slight smirk on his lips as they fought. They had been going back and forth with different arguments over whom was more annoying and so on and so forth. He just sighed deeply, clearing his throat and distracting their argument. “What is going on here?”

                The two jumped as they turned their attention to Agent Coulson. Grace spoke immediately after inhaling deeply. “Mr. Larson is an aggravating, egotistical—“ Lucas just chucked at her colorful words. “Lunatic! And I will  _not_  stand to work with him anymore!” She narrowed her eyes at him as he continued to laugh.

                Phil sighed. “And do you have a complaint, Mr. Larson?”

Lucas kept his cool externally, internally he wanted to scream in frustration. “It would be nice if  _someone_  were a little easier to work with. Other than that, I am quite content in my position.” Grace looked down at the device in that moment, noticing a slight blip in the readings. Her eyes went somewhat wide as she stared, barely paying attention anymore to Phil or Lucas.

                Phil rolled his eyes, he didn’t have time for their childish behavior; he needed results. “Grace, once you give me results,  _then_  we can discuss your working conditions. Until then, I expect you to play nice with others. Is that clear?” Grace didn’t reply as Phil raised his voice. “Is that  _clear?_ ”

                She jumped slightly, her eyes not leaving the device as she replied. “Chrystal.”

Coulson was unsure if he had struck a nerve with Grace, and in his good nature; immediately felt bad. “Grace, I have faith in you and Lucas. I know you two will find something. I’m sure it’s been a hard two and a half weeks for you two. However, I’m sure you can learn to work together and respect one another.” He said, trying to give the positive reinforcement he thought was needed.

                Lucas now had his attention on Grace, realizing she had completely checked out of the conversation as Coulson continued his speech. He looked at the device in her hands and then to Grace as she finally looked at him. “It lit up.”

                Lucas looked somewhat shocked as he replied. “You’re certain?” Grace nodded, that genuine smile appearing on her lips again as she began to laugh. Lucas couldn’t help but join her as the two both tried to fiddle with the device now in her hands. “How did that happen, what did we do?”

                “I’m not sure but, it seems we may be on to something!” Grace exclaimed.

Agent Phil Coulson looked stumped as he watched the two archeologists before him; they were arguing a few minutes ago and now exchanging excited theories back and forth. He scratched his head as he watched them. “I guess we learned something? Good job team, keep up the good work?” Coulson muttered before leaving the church to head back to the States, and leaving the two to their device.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Remember to leave comments or kudos or both!


	5. Bringing Down Walls Literally and Metaphorically

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And then discovery happened...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know. Here, have another chapter. I like updating haha. Hope you're enjoying the story, remember to comment and kudos!

                For the next week or so, Lucas, Grace, and the energy device were inseparable. The two found themselves pacing the church with the device in an attempt to get the light to flicker even just a little. Morning, noon and night the two paced back and forth from room to room trying to get any sort of reading yet nothing happened.

                Lucas still kept an eye on Grace during their long work hours. He made sure she had at least two meals a day as well as water. He knew above all he had to stay on Grace’s good side, she was useless to him otherwise. More and more she began to open up to Lucas, he found the more they worked side by side, the more she reacted in a somewhat  _friendlier_  manner. Although, Grace was frustrated at their lack of results, she was learning to accept Lucas’s constant presence.

                He was now a constant in her life, which for Grace was something she was not used to. She knew once their time here was over he’d go back to wherever he came from. Yet, if she asked him to stay and continue their research, well, that was a debate she didn’t want to have with herself just yet.

                After Agent Coulson’s visit the previous week, he had told Grace that she only had to put up with Lucas until the job was done, after that she could send him away. Something deep down though made her feel as though Lucas being her only constant was something she wanted to cling on to for reasons unknown. He was the first constant in a while, whether by force or not and consistency was something Grace Harper desperately needed.

                Grace sat with her back against the wall of the Yggdrasil etching, her legs straight out in front of her and the device on her lap. She played with the device lazily in her lap as Lucas rejoined her with a protein bar and a bottled water for both of them. He sat beside her and handed her the protein bar and water. “Thanks mom.” Grace joked causing Lucas to roll his eyes.

                “Anything new?” He asked, hoping that she had something,  _anything_  to show him. They had lost another day and he had an idea where they’d be spending their night once more.

Grace shook her head, disappointedly. “I can’t think of what set it off to begin with. Maybe it  _was_  a fluke and this stupid Stark device is busted.”

                “Well, start doing that thing you do and talk it out.” Lucas said lightheartedly as he took a swig of water.

Grace let a small smile escape before she began doing just that. “Let’s take it a step at a time.”

                 “Go on.” Lucas nodded.

“We stood here with the device, so the energy is coming from around here.”

                 “The Tesseract was founded here.” Lucas added.

“Right, so the leftover energy could have made the spike. However, why is the device not lighting up now if it did?”

                Lucas didn’t have a definite answer. “We must have made the energy rise somehow.” She didn’t reply as she continued to look at the device on her lap. “Maybe we can channel some waves with that awful racket you call music.” He joked.

Grace looked at him through side eyes, smirking slightly. “David Bowie is  _not_  awful racket, Mr. Larson. He’s been my muse for  _years_.”

                “Has he?” Lucas chuckled with amusement. “Why is that?”

Grace licked her lips, contemplating whether or not to lash at Lucas to mind his own business or to just tell him the basic. She lost her smile in that moment and just answered as simply as possible. “My dad, actually.” She began. “He  _loved_  Bowie and used to play it every morning while he cooked breakfast for my mom and me.”

                “So he’s to thank for that… _music_?” Lucas asked with a raised eyebrow as he eyed Grace from the corner of his eye.

                “Your dad wasn’t into crazy music?” Grace asked. Lucas went silent for a moment, his lips pursed at the memories of his Father that came to him. It was no mistake that they were on bad terms when Lucas departed from home. “Yikes, I’m sorry. Didn’t think maybe you had  _daddy issues_.” Grace said somewhat apologetically.

                “ _Daddy issues?_ ” Lucas curiously raised his eyebrow.

“You know, you and dad not getting along.”

                His tongue rolled over his front teeth as he thought for a moment. “I suppose you’re right in your assumption. We didn’t get along too well. He favored my brother over me.” He nearly bit his tongue. Why would he tell her anything about himself?

                “That’ll do it.” Grace nodded. “Parents say they don’t pick favorites but, I think they’re full of it.”

“Do you have any siblings, Ms. Harper?” Lucas asked.

Grace shook her head. “Negative. Only child. I suppose that makes me lucky and deprived all the same.” She took another sip of water. “It was just me, mom, and dad for a while.”

                “For a while?” Lucas caught her odd phrasing.

“Yeah.” Grace sighed. “We were inseparable until I turned eleven.”

                “And then what?”

“We were separated.”

                Lucas wondered if he should push a little further, it wasn’t like he actually cared if he hurt her feelings anyway, right? “Who left?”

Grace shook her head before turning to look at Lucas. Something in her eyes told him he had struck something in her. Something deep down held a meaning of sadness and against his former thought, he actually did feel somewhat bad. “He did.” She said softly, Lucas was unsure if he had even heard her correctly.  

                Silence came between the two before Lucas finally said. “I’m sorry if I overstepped my boundaries.”

                “It’s fine.” Grace said, trying to regain her composure as she fiddled with the protein bar. “You’re just a rude person, I’m used to it.” The mischievous smile returned as Lucas found himself chuckling in reply.

                “ _I’m_  the rude person?” Lucas asked.

“Oh yes, very much so.” She was teasing; her playful attitude being something completely new and terrifying to Lucas. Yet at the same time, this other side to Grace was  _very_  alluring. After more silence passed, Grace sighed as she took another piece from the protein bar and eating it. “Do you really think Bowie is terrible?”

                Lucas leaned closer to the girl, his demeanor displaying the same playfulness as Grace. “Do you really think my hair is stupid?”          

                Grace simpered as she found herself giggling slightly. “It  _is_ pretty awful.”

Lucas leaned away from Grace now, running a hand through his rather longer locks. “How is it awful?” Grace now laughed fully, causing Lucas to smile at her infectious laughter. This was truly a different side he could get used to. Silence came between the two once more as their laughter died down. Grace’s attention returned to the device, no longer interested in eating her protein bar.

                “So what made you come to this excavation?” Grace asked, her curiosity getting to the better of her.

                “We’ve been together for almost a month and  _now_  you decide to take interest?” Lucas joked.

“I didn’t say I was interested, Mr. Larson.” Grace rolled her eyes. “I’m making conversation to pass the time while I figure out our next course of action.”

                He liked hearing the word ‘our’, it meant that she wasn’t going to leave him out of her planning. “Well, I was living at home.” He had to be careful in his wording, lest he give himself away with any too fine of a detail. Grace would surely pick up on it. “My family were all against me and my plans; they tried to hold me back. So I left.”

                Grace bit her lip, processing his words before asking. “It doesn’t sound like you really had a choice in leaving.”

“I didn’t.” Lucas exhaled, feeling he already had said too much. “What about you, Ms. Harper, what did you do?”

                She pursed her lips. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t answer my question.”

“I believe ‘family matters’ is a sufficient answer.” He wasn’t exactly lying in his response. It  _did_  have something to do with his being here.

                Grace sighed. “I was a college professor, well, sort of. I taught the mythology class which I absolutely hated.”

                “So why be a teacher then?”

Grace took another nervous sip of water. “Like you, I had little options. I was part of so many digs and discoveries. That was my life and it just seemed to simply… _end.”_

                She left him curious, just as she always seemed to do. “Any specific reason?”

Grace felt herself falling back to her old defensive ways. The longer the silence lasted, the more she felt herself build walls to block everyone out. She had more time to think about her Father and that was the cause for most of her demons. If she couldn’t even figure  _this_  out, then how was she supposed to solve the bigger problem in her life? “Sometimes the people you think are by your side no matter what, end up being the ones who hurt you most.”

               Lucas licked his lips, he understood that a little too well. “Unfortunately, those closest to us can hurt us the deepest.” He said.

              And just like that, her mood shifted drastically as Grace stood up. “I think we should call it a night, Mr. Larson.” She said, holding the device under her arm. “I’ll see what I can do with this device but, I think I need to retire for now.”

               Lucas found himself standing up as well. “Ms. Harper?” She stopped. “You don’t need those who have hurt you.”

Grace nodded. “I’ll see you in the morning.” With that, she turned and left the church; leaving the somewhat concerned Lucas behind. His concern was not for Grace’s mood shift but, more so that he actually cared. That was never a good sign.

 

* * *

 

 

                Grace could easily shut anyone out. She had no problem dropping her old, so-called, friends. She had no trouble ignoring old colleagues and pretending as though nothing bothered her. It was Grace against the world and she believed it. Yet, even after all these years of becoming such a hard person, she felt a little twinge of guilt for shutting Lucas out. That, above all else, bothered her.

                Grace put her red hair in a loose pony tail as she stared down at her notebook, the energy reading device to her left. She needed to concentrate, she needed to reset her thoughts and try again. However, she was distracted. Grace grumbled, placing her head down on the table in her camper. “Dad, give me strength.” She said to no one in particular. “Why do I even care in the slightest? Mr. Larson is just here to assist me and then move on. That’s that.” She argued with herself. “Yet, he hasn’t left yet. How anyone can work with me, well, that’s an achievement in itself.” She admitted before frowning. “How anyone can work with  _him_  is also an achievement.”

                Grace sighed, regaining her composure before standing up and heading over to the stove. Her idea of relaxation would be to make a nice cup of tea, something Lucas had done for her many times now. Grace unintentionally rolled her eyes at the escaped thought of Lucas she began to boil the hot water. “If I am to figure out what is expected of me, I can’t be thinking about Mr. Larson.” Grace grumbled, looking back over to the device on the table. “This is so unbelievably frustrating.” She said, walking back over to her notebook and rereading her notes from earlier. “It flashed, I know I saw it flash but, what caused it?”

                As if on command, and all the forces of the universe were against her; Grace broke her concentration as the tea kettle began to whistle wildly. She nearly jumped as she regained her composure and rushed to the kettle. “Damn it!” Grace shouted, grabbing the tea kettle off the stove. As she went to pour the tea into her mug, Grace, being clumsy, spilt the tea water everywhere. Loudly, and angrily, Grace began shouting at her clumsiness. She threw the tea kettle into the sink, giving up on her tea and continued to curse as she turned to find any form of towel to clean up the mess. Her cursing immediately stopped as she saw the device blink.

                Grace, eyes wide, ran over to the table, tripping over herself as she went. She grabbed the device on her way to the floor, clutching it tightly. “C’mon, do that again!” She shouted, shaking the device. “I saw you flicker!” She waited for a moment, seeing nothing come of the device. “Damn it!” She yelled again, about to throw the device. She stopped herself, mid throw. The device had flickered again. Grace thought for a moment, what had she just done to make the device work?

Her mind raced a mile a minute before it happened. She quickly threw her arms up and scrambled on the table to find her notebook. Once her hand felt the familiar book, she grabbed it and pulled it down and skimmed through the notes. “The device flickered—“She read. “Blah, blah, blah, after we argued.” Grace stopped herself, looking down at the device on her lap as she realized exactly what caused the energy spike. “Son of a bitch…” She had a pretty good idea how to do it again.

 

* * *

 

 

 

                Lucas sat silently on his camper bed. He stared blankly at the far wall, he could feel an outer force pulling at his mind.  _The Other_  wanted to talk. Lucas inhaled deeply, closing his eyes to concentrate and letting himself fall to the pull. When his eyes opened, his mental state forced him into the outer plane of existence, another world, another timeline. There stood The Other, menacingly as he hissed at Lucas. 

 

 

_“Why do you call me?” Lucas asked, narrowing his eyes and taking a stronger stance._

_“He wants results.”_

_“And he shall have them.” Lucas replied. “I was placed with a very unforgiving force that doesn’t want to budge.”_

_The Other hissed. “Do you question him? He has plans for her. You will do whatever he commands of you.”_

_“And what are his plans for her?” Lucas said, suddenly feeling instant remorse for wanting to know anything more than he needed._

_The Other snapped. “His plans for her are none of your concern. Do what you were asked.”_

_Lucas stood his ground. “And he will have her, in due time. Until then, I need more time to unlock the location of the Tesseract.” He never broke eye contact with The Other as he spoke. “And when that happens, I expect my army to be ready.”_

_The Other chuckled darkly. “Such concern for your army, Asgardian.” He taunted. “We’ll see if you’re worthy enough to wield his army.”_

 

                Before Lucas could retort, he felt a pull on his mental state. Someone was coming to his camper, he had to return to the Midgardian plane. He inhaled deeply and forced himself from the astral plane and back to the reality his physical form sat. As he adjusted to his surroundings, he heard the pounding on his camper door. He didn’t really have to guess who would be on the other side as he got up to open the door.

                She was somewhat excited and erratic, a perfect mix of chaos that almost excited him as he looked at her. She had figured something out; that had to be it. Why else would she come to him? “Ms. Harper?” He acknowledged tiredly.

                “Hope you weren’t sleeping.” She said, though Lucas knew she honestly didn’t really care if she disturbed him or not. “We need to go back to the church.”

  

* * *

 

 

               “What has you all excited now?” Lucas asked as the two stood in front of the wall.

“I know what made the device react.” Grace said proudly as she held the device in front of her. “At least, I think I do.”

                Lucas folded his arms. “Go on.”

Grace smiled eagerly. The excitement in Grace when she discovered something truly was a sight to see, a sight Lucas found himself unwillingly smiling at. “Our arguing.”

                “Pardon?”

“You heard me, when we were arguing last week with Coulson here, we must have conducted enough energy to react with the Tesseract to make the device go off.”

                “If our energy made the device go off, then it’s been registering us not the energy of the Tesseract.” Lucas suggested.

                “That’s what I thought, however.” Grace began. “We can use our energy to manipulate the energy left over from the cube.”

                Lucas thought for a moment. “Yes but, our arguing didn’t do it last time.”

“We didn’t argue enough.” Grace replied. “We need to have a bigger argument or at least give the energy a formidable force to react with.”

                Lucas raised curious eyebrow as he tried to follow her. “You want us to argue?” Grace nodded. “Okay, what shall we use for an argument?”

                Grace sighed, rolling her eyes in an annoyed fashion. “You can’t just stage the argument, it needs to have the energy behind it. If we just yelled it won’t have the same reaction waves as a true and passionate brawl.”

               “And how do you propose we do that?” Lucas asked curiously and somewhat tiredly.

She knew what she had to do, she had to break through Lucas’s barrier and bring out the worst in him. She wouldn’t allow that to happen to herself, instead, she’d rather hurt someone else for her work. Everything in the end was for her work. “Tell me more about your dad.”

                Lucas was taken aback by the question, unsure if she even really asked it in the first place. “Excuse me?”

                “It’s a simple question, Mr. Larson.” Grace began. “From what you had told me earlier, he favors your brother. Why is that? Is your brother just everything you’re not?”

                Lucas felt his body tense, his heart race ever so slightly. He was growing angry, she was pushing at something she shouldn’t be. She was bringing up negativity, she was—then it clicked. She was doing this on purpose. She was onto something. They both needed to raise the energy in the room, he had to play too. “I find it funny, Ms. Harper that you want to pick on my relationship with my Father when it’s  _your_  Father whom we should question.”

                Grace narrowed her eyes. “We are not getting into  _my_  Father.” He struck a nerve and knew it. “I’m assuming your brother was always the ideal child your parents wanted. Probably athletic, smart, and talented no doubt.”

He wasn’t going to let her win. “Yes, well, regardless of my  _short comings_  in comparison to that oaf; my Father, granted his devoted love for him, was at least  _around_.”

                For the first time in their brief time together, he saw Grace flinch. Her stone expression dropped, and in that moment he felt guilt and anger towards the woman. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Grace growled in a low tone.

                There was no going back now, he now had the same incentive as Grace, and it was for their work. At the end of the day, this was all for himself, he had to remember that. Her feelings didn’t matter. “Oh, don’t I?” He questioned with a slight, arrogant smirk. “From what you’ve told me, I think it’s easy to say your Father left you and your Mother.” He began, malice filling his voice as he spoke. “Now, as I understand it that sounds like he willingly left your family, possibly for another family? Maybe it was to be somewhere better than where he was.”

                She looked at him with only hate in her eyes. Grace could only feel complete and total hatred as she stood there, her body shaking. She was angry with Lucas but, most of all, she was angry with herself. He wouldn’t have any information, what little it were, if she had just kept him shut out. He didn’t know what he was talking about yet, it hurt all the same.

She lashed out. “You think you’re so clever? You think that you have  _won_  this little game? You stand so high above everyone else yet in reality you’re just as damaged as the rest of us. You’re dad doesn’t love you, that’s obvious.” She laughed sarcastically. “But at least my dad loved me. He left us not because he had another family, yeah, he left for somewhere better. He left not by choice. At the end of the day, he loved me, that’s more than I can say for you.” She wasn’t sure when the tears began to fall, but a few had escaped.

                Lucas scoffed, even though he knew she wasn’t doing this on purpose at first, she finally struck a real nerve. “ _I’m_  the high and mighty? Please, Ms. Harper. What are you? A washed up has been that is bitter over losing their place on the pedestal. You’re nothing, you never will be anything, you’re only here because you have nothing else and at the end of this, what will you have? Nothing, you will continue to have and be  _nothing_.”

                Grace moved closer, getting into his face to yell. “At least I worked to get where I am instead of using daddy issues as my excuse. Grow up, Mr. Larson. Life isn’t fair and you’re just a prime example of the entitled little brats of the world!”

                As Lucas stepped closer to Grace, the rage pent up inside him, he opened his mouth ready to yell only to have the sound of his voice completely erased by an explosion next to them. The pair went flying, landing on the ground with a thud on impact. Lucas was the first to somewhat recover as he sat up slowly to see the room covered in soot and a new opening in the wall where the Yggdrasil etching once was. He stared wide eyed, they had done it. Even after all the pain they just endured, they had done it. Now to find out what ‘it’ actually entailed. Lucas immediately snapped out of it and looked to his right to see Grace moving slightly. “Ms. Harper?” He asked concerned as he leaned over to her. He brushed some soot and debris away from her face as he helped her sit up.

                Grace groaned as she felt her body being moved, she was forced to a sitting position as she looked around. “What the he—“Her eyes went wide at the hole in the wall and shock came over her. “We did it?”

Lucas chuckled in disbelief. “I don’t exactly know what we did but, we did something alright.” He turned his attention to the stunned Grace. “Are you all right?”

                Grace was still in disbelief as she tried to stand. Her legs were still shaking but, Lucas held her firmly as they stood together. “Lucas, we need to go in there. We have to see what’s behind the wall.”

Lucas looked around at the destruction, surely people had heard the blast. “Shouldn’t we wait for the rest of the team?”

                Grace shook her head, a small smirk appearing on her lips. “Where’s your sense of adventure?” She asked. “There’s no time to wait, we need to go.” Lucas returned the smirk as he followed the stumbling girl to the hole, grabbing a nearby flashlight as he went. She examined the hole before slowly stepping through and looking around at the moonlit room.

               As the two began their exploration, Lucas walked behind Grace, noticing a few scratches and what would definitely be bruises forming on Grace’s arms. This is when the guilt began to return, guilt he didn’t truly understand. “Ms. Harper, about what was said—“

                Grace interrupted him. “I asked you to.” In that simple answer, he felt worse. Lucas knew he single handedly rebuilt the wall he had only just torn down hours prior. This was his own doing, even though he knew he had no reason to really care anyway. “Do you see this?” She asked, the excitement returning to her voice as she stumbled ahead towards the far wall. Lucas followed to see what caught Grace’s attention. She opened her notebook and began sketching the etchings, drawing what looked like a glove, maybe a gauntlet of sorts with five different symbols above the glove. Below the glove was a scene of destruction for stick figure people. “What do you think this means?” She asked as she sketched.

                Lucas had an idea what he was looking at, he knew the one shape represented the Tesseract, and he knew what that glove was. “It’s a gauntlet.”

Grace stopped sketching to give him a ‘No Kidding’ look before looking at the scene once more. She stared for a few moments before speaking in a low voice. “I think I know what this is.”

                Lucas looked at her skeptically. “You do?”

Grace shook her head before flipping back a few pages. “Well, I think I’ve seen this before.” Lucas immediately remembered what ‘The Other’ had said about Grace being the other side of a  _door_ of sorts. Grace opened up to an earlier page which had a similar sketch of a gauntlet with five shapes.

                “Grace.” Lucas said, breaking all formalities as he looked at the sketch. “You’re starting to scare me.”

                Grace felt her body shake slightly. “I’m starting to scare myself.”

Before Lucas could add to the conversation, a voice had been heard at the hole in the wall. “Ms. Harper, Mr. Lucas, are you in there?”

                “We’re here.” Lucas confirmed as he called out to the Agent. “I better go talk to them about all this.” Grace just nodded as Lucas found himself leaving Grace almost reluctantly.

Grace continued to stare at the etching, everything seeming almost too familiar as she took in the sight before her. Where and why had she seen this before?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to come soon! Remember to kudos and comment. Thank you so much for reading.


	6. The Girl And Her Assistant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace and Lucas begin to understand each other more. Grace finds herself growing dependent on Lucas. Whatever shall happen now?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeez, Kimmyhazard. Another chapter?! Yeah, I know. Crazy stuff. However! I have so much written for this story that I just want to give you guys more to read! Why not, I say!

The next day, SHIELD Agents and scientist were all over the newly found room, examining each nook and cranny as carefully as possible. Grace watched them work from afar, sighing as Lucas handed her a cup of tea. “Problem, Ms. Harper?”

                Grace took a careful sip of her tea. “They’re in my way.”

Lucas chuckled. “Well, we got a lot of information from last night. They have to examine this out of protocol.” Grace hummed slightly into the warm tea. “Although, everyone is really excited at your discovery.” He eyed the girl a little more, noticing he had been correct about the cuts and bruises from the blast. “How are you feeling?”

                Grace shrugged. “Sore.” She wanted to bite her tongue, she didn’t want to ask him how he was feeling in return but, found it extremely difficult. “Yourself?”

                Lucas knew the hesitation in her voice and grinned slightly. “I’m fine, thank you. My headache for today has come from filling out the report from last night but, I’m fine.”

Grace bit her lip slightly, debating on how to ask this next question. Lucas had done wonderfully at reporting every little thing about their work to the high ups, especially Coulson. She was concerned if he had mentioned her somehow knowing about the Gauntlet. “Lucas?”

                She threw him off guard by using his first name yet, Lucas knew exactly what she was asking. “I left out certain details about you.” Grace just nodded as she took another sip of tea.

The pair were interrupted by a bald, thin man with a small smile. “Ms. Harper, Mr. Larson?” He said, holding his hand out to shake their hands. “I am Agent Sitwell, I’ll be overseeing the rest of this excavation.”

                “Where’s Phil?” Grace asked skeptically.

“Another assignment required his attention.” Agent Sitwell said with ease. “Care to fill me in on my reports? Mine seem to be missing some things and I’d like accounts from both of you.” Reluctantly Grace nodded. “So how did you blow up the wall?”

                Before Grace could answer, Lucas spoke. “The energy was unstable apparently, Ms. Harper had recorded the readings earlier in the week and they kept growing more and more. It was bound to happen, luckily for us we had been there at the right time.” Grace once again nodded, following in Lucas’ lie.

                “Very lucky.” She added.

Sitwell watched the two for a moment before continuing. “What device did you use?”

                “It was a Stark product, it broke in the blast.” Grace added.

Sitwell nodded. “Any ideas on the etchings?”

                “I plan on researching more in my books for anything similar. So far I’m not sure.” Grace said, biting her lip slightly.

Agent Sitwell examined her carefully before smiling. “Great, thank you both. Take the day and go relax, you’ve earned it. We’ll keep you updated on the reports of the excavation.”

                “Thank you, Agent Sitwell. I think rest would do both of us some good.” Lucas said looked to Grace. “Shall we?”

Grace nodded. “Agent.” She said simply as the two left the church and headed to Grace’s camper.

 

* * *

 

 

Grace paced back and forth in her camper as Lucas sat idly by on a chair. He watched her pace, her mind racing a mile a minute. “Why did we lie to Agent Sitwell?”

                “You didn’t trust him anymore than I did.” Lucas commented.

“True.” Grace said. “But I feel like I wouldn’t have done that to Phil.”

                “Yes you would have.” Lucas smirked.

“Okay, well, I would have felt bad lying to Phil.” She rolled her eyes.

                “And this isn’t you feeling bad?” Lucas retorted.

Grace shook her head. “There’s something different. There’s a lot of things we still need to figure out.”

                Lucas agreed with her, there  _were_  a lot of things that needed to be figured out. Why was the etching so important for them to find? Why did The Other send him here with Grace? What, exactly, was so important about Grace? He shook his head, clearing his mind of all these raging questions as he looked up to see Grace now sitting across from him. “Ms. Harper?”

                Grace bit her lip. “We just uncovered a great discovery. I feel like even with this new discovery, we learned nothing.”

                Lucas chuckled. “Even with a brilliant discovery, Ms. Harper can’t accept it.”

Grace let a small smile slip. “I can’t just celebrate when there’s so much left unanswered.”

                “You’ll never be satisfied. Everything will always have an outstanding question, you’ll have to learn to accept that you can’t answer it all.” Grace shifted slightly, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out the folded and crumpled photograph. She unfolded it carefully and looked down at the smiling man and girl. Lucas watched her expression change as the small one of a kind smile appeared. The same smile that he had only ever seen once before. “Ms. Harper?” He asked softly. Grace, with shaky hands, slid the photo gently across the table to Lucas. He cautiously took the photo in his hands and examined it carefully. He noted the photograph of a younger looking male with a shaved head and his arm around a young child. The young girl in the photo was smiling and holding up an all too familiar notebook. The man was beaming in the photo and looked almost proud. “Who are they?” Lucas asked.

                Silence came over the both of them before Grace finally answered. “It’s my Father and me.” She replied quietly. “It was my tenth birthday, he bought me my notebook. We were out in the backyard of my old house, he was so happy to give me that book.” She smiled painfully the more she looked talked about the photo and reminisced. “He said it was for all my adventures and findings.”

               His intentions were unclear to him at this point, whatever he was doing, it was now the dormant part of his mind pushing forward. “That’s the notebook you use now. How on earth has it lasted this long?” He commented; her notebook was covered in consistent scribble from Grace yet still seemed to have empty pages.

                Grace swallowed. “I didn’t use it until I was fourteen. I couldn’t even look at it really until I was older and realized it helped keep my thoughts on track.” She sighed. “And now I use it constantly.”

                “Why wait so long?” Lucas asked curiously.

“It was an all too painful reminder of my Father.” She said. Before Lucas could reply or ask any more questions, Grace continued. “He didn’t leave us because he wanted to.” She said simply. “He loved us very much. My Father gave in to his battle with cancer and died the year after this photo was taken. His hair was shaved in this photo because he was losing it anyway because of the chemotherapy. He was fading every day and finally when he died I couldn’t handle anything in relation to him.”

                Lucas felt a lump in his throat as he stared at the photo, the guilt returning for everything he had said to her. “Ms. Harper, I didn’t know.” He said simply before shaking his head. “I’m sorry for your loss.” Lucas said, unsure where this new found remorse came from. His relationship with his so-called ‘Father’ was not exactly sound. Grace had been right about everything she used in their fight. He couldn’t imagine what Grace felt, losing his Father was not something he was emotionally attached to. However, if he ever lost his Mother, that would be different.

                Grace nodded. “He’s the reason I ever wanted to become an archeologist.”

“So  _he’s_  the reason you’re a workaholic.” Lucas tried to joke, causing Grace to let out a surprising chuckle. He found himself smiling slightly. “Was he an archeologist too?”

                She shook her head. “Not exactly, he was an English teacher. He used to read to me all the time. My favorite stories were the ones in this giant Norse Mythology book he had. He would tell me different stories of Asgard and the Gods and Goddesses. I was obsessed with those stories.”

                “It all makes sense now.” He said before turning serious as he slid the photo back to Grace. “I’m sure you’re making him very proud.”

                Grace shrugged slightly, taking the photo and folding it back up into her pocket. “I suppose.”

“Come now, you just made a brilliant discovery.” Lucas said, nudging Grace slightly. “I cannot imagine any other way he’d be proud of you.”

                “A discovery that you helped me make.” Her willingness to suddenly share the credit shocked Lucas as she smiled slightly. “Besides, I think once I get to Asgard I can say I’ve accomplished the impossible.”

Lucas raised a curious eyebrow. “You’re looking to get to Asgard?”

“Well, up until a few weeks ago the Tesseract was believed to be a myth. There is a group of fantastic super humans in New York, oh and people with mutated genes are becoming more prominent.” Grace smiled sarcastically. “I’m pretty sure there’s a good chance Asgard is real.”

                Lucas chuckled. “Fine, say it does exist. How will you get there?”

“The Bifrost, how else would one get there, Mr. Larson?”

                His smile faded slightly knowing Grace would probably never be able to go to Asgard. “Mortals aren’t allowed in Asgard. Even if you could travel there, you unfortunately are mortal.”

                Grace shrugged. “I’ll just have to figure a way around that.”

Lucas wondered for a moment, if things went his way, maybe he  _could_  take Grace to Asgard? Then again, what did he owe her? “I’m sure you will, Ms. Harper.”

                “Grace.” She said simply, causing Lucas to stare at her almost wide eyed. She wasn’t sure why she was giving him permission to call her by her first name. She was strictly against such a thing yet, she felt he almost earned the right. He did listen to her vent, after all. “You can call me Grace.”

                Lucas smirked smugly. “What has become of you; first name basis now?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

                “Do not let it go to your head, Mr. Larson.” She grimaced slightly, narrowing her eyes as the two sat in silence. Before she had a chance to really comprehend what was happening, a smile began to form on her face, causing Lucas to smile in return. The two then broke into full out laughter, laughter that seemed to come from nowhere yet relieved both of them at the same time. “Why are we laughing?” Grace asked innocently.

                “I suppose we can sum it up that we may have quite possibly grown tolerant of one another.”

“I’m calling it.” Grace deduced. “Stockholm syndrome; it has to be.”

                Lucas chuckled. “And what is your basis for comparison?”

Her smile widened. “I have none but, that must be the only solution.”

                He smiled, he genuinely smiled as he looked at Grace. For the first time since he left home, he felt somewhat at peace with the girl he once found to be the bane of his existence. As much as he hated to admit it, they were quite similar, and that was too close for comfort.

               

 

* * *

 

 

              

“How is the project coming along?” She knew her words fell on deaf ears as she came closer to his workspace, a coffee in one hand. She brushed back her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear as she stood behind the workaholic. “Any progress?”

                He jumped as though he had no idea she came into the room. His eyes adjusting to his surroundings. “Yes, actually. Pretty soon Stark Towers will be the first clean energy staple of New York.” He turned to look at her, his tired eyes signifying he should probably rest. Then again, Tony Stark wasn’t one for rest. “I just have to calibrate the mechanics of the suit to help with the pipeline in the Hudson and we’re set to begin production.”

                “You’ll definitely make press with a self-sufficient tower.” Pepper smiled, cradling the coffee now in both hands. “You look exhausted, Tony.” She observed.

Tony shrugged. “Greatness was never achieved by people who slept.” Pepper rolled her eyes. “Besides, what would one more hour or two do? I mean really.”

                “And what would a few hours of sleep hurt?” Pepper countered.

“Uh, well, lack of production would come of it.” Tony began. “Results; we’d be at least a day behind.” As Pepper was about to reply, she noticed something else on Tony’s screen; an article about the finding of Steve Rogers. Before she could ask, he was off on another tangent. “Besides, we have too much work; a lot of projects ahead of us. I promise I’ll relax when we get passed that.”

                “Well, don’t be too hard on yourself.” Pepper said with a sigh, readying to leave him alone. “Also, don’t forget we have that benefit dinner coming up.”

                “Benefit dinner? Do I  _have_  to go? What is this one for now, what did I do?”

Pepper laughed as she began to leave the work room. “For once, Tony, this isn’t about you. It’s for some archeologist, she’s receiving an award of sorts. You funded her original project a few years back?” Pepper left the room, the door sliding and sealing behind her.

                Tony raised a curious eyebrow. “Jarvis, pull up that archeologist.”

“Yes, Sir.” The computer voice said as the monitor flickered, bringing up the article of one Grace Harper. “From what I gather, Sir. Grace Harper used the grant your foundation had given to work on the dig that found another vibranium shard in Uganda, the same metal—“

                “That Captain America’s shield is made from.” Stark finished as he looked at the article. “Says she’s been out of the digging scene for a few years now, why are they honoring her now?” Something was a little off about this benefit dinner, and oddly enough, Tony couldn’t understand for the life of him why he cared.

 

* * *

 

 

                The next week, Grace was in full charge of overseeing the wall project. She was the top consultant regarding what the etchings meant and the correlation to the Tesseract. She was the most important person at the sight, which was something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

                Her relationship with Lucas grew and became a slightly less hostile;  _slightly_. He was there overseeing Grace’s work, reporting to SHIELD, and of course completing his own task in his spare time.

               However, Lucas internally was growing more and more impatient as the days went by and not a single word from The Other. How was he to continue his work if there were no leads? It was frustrating to say the least.

               That was until that afternoon when he was hailed into one of the main trailers for a video conference with a familiar Agent. Coulson was in a room that gave away nothing to his location, at least SHIELD was one step ahead in that regard. “Lucas, it’s good to see you. How is everything?”

               “Fine. Grace and I have been studying the markings from the church. She thinks we may uncover something any day now.”

               Coulson grinned. “It’s Grace now?”

“We’ve reached a point of—“ Lucas thought of the word. “Understanding.”

               “Good, because I’m going to need your help with this.” Coulson began. “I need you both back in the states.”

               Lucas shook his head. “Grace won’t leave the church now that the discovery was made.”

“I believe you can do more good here than at the site.” Coulson said. “We have a few things I want to go over with you both as well before we move onto the next phase.”

               “What is the next phase?”

“Well, as long as Grace cooperates, I expect you two will be face to face with the Tesseract soon.”

               Lucas felt a wave of relief and eagerness wash over him at the idea. This was his chance, he would finally get his hands on the Tesseract. “That won’t take much convincing from my part, I should think.”

               Coulson nodded. “As long as Grace still wants your assistance, I can have both of you debriefed and given the right clearance.”

               His feeling of relief immediately dissipated. What if Grace didn’t want him to go with her? He’d be back to square one once again. He tried his best to hide his grimace as he assured Coulson that wouldn’t be an issue. “Let me talk it over with Grace and we will contact you as soon as possible.”

               “Glad to hear it.” Coulson said, the transmission ending. Lucas now had more things to worry about and immediately left for Grace’s camper.

 

* * *

 

 

               Lucas walked right up to Grace’s camper and let himself in. “Grace, I hope I’m not interrupting any—“He stopped to see the camper a bigger mess than usual. Something was very off. “Grace?” He then saw her storm out of the bed area, her hair a complete mess, her clothes disheveled. Good heavens, she looked like she had been hit by a bus. “You seem—“Lucas thought for a moment before finding the word best to describe Grace. “ _Distressed.”_  Grace scoffed as she continued pacing back and forth her camper. “What happened?” Grace just pointed to the laptop table and flailed her arms in a fit as she stormed to the bed area of the camper. Lucas grinned slightly as he walked to the laptop and noticed a bright colored email on the screen. “It’s an invitation to a Gala?” He asked, confirming his suspicious by hearing Grace trip over something in the other room. He continued to read. “We invite you to our 37th Annual Achievement Gala in New York. The Gala will present an Achievement Award to a few names in the science and archeological finds departments. We cordially invite you as an honored guest to receive an award for your accomplishments.” A lightbulb went off in his head,  _this_  would be how he’d get Grace to the states and closer to the Tesseract. “Grace, they’re honoring you. That’s wonderful.”

                “What!” She shrieked, storming towards Lucas. “You’re kidding right? This is the  _worst_  news!”

Lucas blinked a few times. “I’m not following.”

                Grace stared at him in disbelief, her mouth open as she tried to formulate any and all reasons why this was an atrocity. “They want me to appear in a room in front of my peers so they can admire my hard work that they oh-so-lovingly discredited and shunned me from the business for in the first place!” She threw her arms in the air. “So no thank you, Mr. Larson!”

                “Or, you can go and prove to them that your research had not been in vain.” Lucas suggested. “Think of their faces when they see your accomplishments!”

“Yes, their laughing faces.” She said dryly. “I’m staying right here, there’s no way in hell I am heading back to the states for this.” The look on Lucas’ face said it all. “What?”

                 He chose his words very,  _very_  carefully. “What if I told you, we were needed back at the states now?”

“I’d hide somewhere where no one would find me.” Grace said immediately.

                Lucas shook his head. “That won’t do you any good.” He said quickly. “I spoke to Agent Coulson earlier, he wants us back in the states with our research immediately.”

Grace flailed about. “It’ll have to wait until after this Gala is over.”

               “You actually want to leave?”

“Our work here is done, Lucas.” Grace said as if it were more than obvious. “We found what we needed.” She tried to brush her hair back, only to make it stick up more. “What does Coulson want from us?”

               “I’m not sure what he needs from us there, however, if we go to the States we will be given eventual access to the Tesseract.” Grace stopped. Lucas was almost certain she had had a stroke of sorts. Her brain seemed to stop all together. “The sooner we go the sooner we can get to the Tesseract.” He said slowly. “Should you have me?”

              Grace bit her lip, her nervous quirk was something she was both aware and unaware of simultaneously. The idea of being in the same room as the Tesseract was a conflicting emotion for Grace. She was happy, excited and above all absolutely and completely horrified.

              This past month, Grace had come to find there was some very odd connection to her research and…  ** _something_**. Something she couldn’t pinpoint, something she couldn’t explain. Grace was a woman of science; a woman whom firmly believed everything had an equal explanation. This, however, she had nothing for. What if she was never supposed to go near the Tesseract? What if there was something deeper to all this that she could never comprehend.

              She looked at Lucas finally and for the first time in a long while, she felt as safe as anyone in her positon could. Lucas was her assistant, as much as she hated to admit that, he was going to be by her side. If anything should happen to go wrong, he’d be there to help, or explode in the process. Both notions were disturbingly comforting to Grace. “Lucas?” He answered with a musical hum. “You’re coming with me to see the Tesseract, correct?”

              It took everything within Lucas to not fall over. Grace Harper was full of surprises, this was one he was not prepared for, not without a fight at least. “As you assistant, nothing would make me happier.”

Grace nodded, feeling air leave her lungs at an alarming rate as she quickly tried to inhale. “I need to know what’s going on. There’s something—“ She said. “I know you can feel it too. There’s something more to this. Something bigger.”

              “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be alright.” Lucas said, a twinge of guilt in his stomach knowing he was more than likely lying to her. If Thanos wanted her for something, there was a guarantee that whatever it was… wasn’t good. 

Grace believed him. She didn’t know why she believed him but, she did. That made it all the more worse for Lucas as Grace forced a brave smile. “Alright then, we should get packing.”

               Lucas looked around the camper, noticing the mess around them as well as still not fully unpacked boxes. “We have work to do.” He said.

Grace beamed. “I’ll put on Bowie.” Lucas let out a playful groan as Grace rushed over to blast David Bowie like she had done for the last month. Her awkward dancing around boxing and humming she wasn’t aware she had been doing. Lucas watched her out of the corner of his eye as he helped pack up the random books and materials they had used. What did this mortal have to do with any of this? How blissfully unaware she was to it all, then again, why did she have to know?

                He wondered what Thanos and The Other would do to her. What awful and horrific things were in store for his companion? Only time would tell… and it would certainly come with a bang.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Remember to comment and leave kudos if you like it!


	7. Like Everything Else In Her Life... He Left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things never work out how we plan them. Doubly so for our heroine and her mysterious assistant. Grace becomes more and more accustomed to Lucas and of course, things never last. Now do they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good lord! This is a really long chapter. But, hey! We are finally getting into Avengers territory! I'm excited for that and what's to come next! Pretty please leave a comment or kudos or both!

              Grace sat uncomfortably on the jet back to New York. She kept fidgeting and readjusting her position, this in turn drove Lucas absolutely bonkers. He had no idea of Grace’s incapacitating fear of flying, now, he was fully aware. He sat across from Grace, his gaze removing from the page of notes he had swiped on the Tesseract, and to the unadjusted girl. “Is there anything I can do to help you relax?” He asked, more so annoyance in his tone as she shifted again. This time, Grace shifted to a more natural position as she grimaced.

“I don’t particularly like flying.” Lucas gave her a pointed look as she inhaled. “Okay, that’s obvious. I’m sorry.”

                “That’s not all, is it?” It wasn’t a question.

She pursed her lips, trying to focus on anything but the black haired man across from her. “I—“ She began, rethinking her words carefully. “I keep thinking about that stupid Gala.” She admitted. “Why would they want to acknowledge my existence after everything that’s happened?”

               “They obviously think you’ve accomplished something worth acknowledging, Grace. Why else would they?”

               She shifted uncomfortably again, receiving a half-glare from Lucas. “I think it’s sabotage.”

He had to stifle a laugh. “Sabotage?”

               “Why else would they want me there?” She asked. “It’s a room full of my peers who discredited me and threw me out. Why would they want to bring attention to any of my finds and accomplishments?”

               “Maybe they realized you weren’t crazy?” Lucas suggested noticing Grace react to that word.  _Crazy_. It was like he had insulted her mother or something. It stuck with her, resonated within her. “Grace, I know you aren’t truly fond of me. To be honest, I am not fond of you either. However, I do respect you and what you bring to this dysfunctional partnership. I may have only known you a short while, within that while, I’ve come to learn your different mannerism and when you’re affected by something.” He paused. “There’s something else to this, what is it?”

               “It’s nothing.” She snapped quickly, almost offended he even offered that he  _knew_  how she functioned. “I just think it’s stupid.”

“If it’s so stupid and not a bother, then why not go just to prove them wrong?” He asked. “Why not go and show you aren’t afraid?”

               Grace let out a dark laugh. “Because, Mr. Larson.” Another step backwards. “There’s things we do to show we’re brave and things we do out of sheer stupidity. This would be the latter.”

               He was calling her out now. “What are you afraid of, I wonder?”

“I’m not afraid.”

               “Then go to the Gala.” He said simply, irritating Grace further. “If there’s nothing stopping you, go.”

               Grace groaned, putting her head down on the tray in front of her and continued to pout for a few moments longer before mumbling into the tray. “He’s going to be there.” Lucas hummed in reply, unsure what she was even talking about. “I know you may find this very hard to believe but, I was married once.” It did come as a shock to him. “I was married to one of my colleagues at my dig sites. He was older and wiser and just brilliant.”

               “And you’re afraid he’ll be there?” Lucas asked. “I suppose running into an ex-lover is hard.”

Grace lifted her head, aggravation on her face. “It’s worse than that.”

               Now Lucas was getting annoyed, if she was going to be cryptic about it, she may as well just not tell him at all. “Then explain to me how it’s worse than that?”

               Her face fell, her gaze completely avoiding his once again as she said quietly. “He’s the one who discredited me.” Lucas began to feel a million and one questions rising in his mind. Particularly those of how someone could do that to their significant other. “He gave my unfinished work to other colleagues and together they pushed me out of the group, believing me  _crazy_.”

               “What was your work that it caused this?” Lucas asked.

“Remember how I said I wanted to get to Asgard?” She asked, Lucas nodded. “I worked long hours, so long that I can understand how most marriages end in divorce. When you don’t make time, you can’t expect everything else in your life to keep functioning.” She said.

               Lucas wasn’t fully understanding. “So because you believed in the existence of Asgard, you were discredited?”

               “Not exactly.” She said. “I wanted to find a way to Asgard and ultimately Valhalla. If Asgard existed then surely Valhalla existed. That maybe not only warriors went there.” She took a much needed breath. “If I couldn’t prove heaven, maybe I could prove that.”

               Lucas began to connect the dots, everything clicking as he realized why Grace was so keen on getting to Asgard and Valhalla. “Grace, that’s not how it works.” He admitted. “You know that Valhalla is for the dead and only for the dead.”

               She grew quiet. “But maybe he’d be there.” The image of her father, her obsession for years, flashing before her eyes. She just wanted to see him again.

“I’m sure he is among the bravest of warriors.” Lucas said, causing Grace to look up at him. A soft smile on his face as he assured her. “If there were a way to get to Valhalla, I have no doubt you’d be the one to do it.”

               She returned the smile. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need his approval, or anyone’s approval for that matter.” Lucas added. “And I think you should go to the Gala if not to show your ex-husband that you are much better off.”

               That feeling of dread returned again. “Yeah but, he’ll probably bring his new wife.” She said with malice. “His old assistant that he conveniently was seeing around the same time. Add more icing to this delicious cake called my life.” She forced a laugh before putting a strand of her red hair behind her ear. “Maybe that’s why I had such hatred for you in the beginning. I’m sorry for that—“ She said. “I have a  _thing_  against assistants.”

               “Then think of me as your second-in-command.” Lucas tried to joke, receiving a smile from Grace. It finally made somewhat sense as to why Grace had an immediate hatred for him. However, their relationship still rocky, he was beginning to like Grace. Unfortunately, she was beginning to like him too. An understanding that would never and could never last. “Let’s go to the Gala, you and I, and give him something to talk about.”

               She was back to moaning and groaning. “I hate crowds.”

He rolled his eyes. “Excuses will get you nowhere, Grace; they will only make the experience more difficult.”

               Grace forced a quick smile, so quick Lucas nearly missed it. “Fine, but, you have to stay by my side. As my second-in-command.”

Lucas quirked an amused eyebrow at her request; she actually wanted him by her side? “So I am your partner through this?”

                “I wouldn’t go that far, however, having a  _date_  of sorts may give me the advantage.” She groaned in realization at her use of the word ‘date’. “Or quite possibly ruin me.” Lucas chuckled.

“Your words, not mine.” He grinned as Grace’s cheeks burned red.

  

 

* * *

 

            

 

               The pair were not given their security clearance badges as of yet, besides, they were told the Tesseract was not in New York anyway. This angered Lucas yet, he kept that hidden from his very perceptive counterpart, Grace. Instead, the pair were given a hotel to stay in by SHIELD forever how long it would take to get that clearance. Grace so eagerly called Phil Coulson to let him know how much she did not approve of sharing a hotel room with Lucas  _and_  also being denied access. He calmed her down by saying they had a credit card in the safe, allowing them to do whatever they needed (within reason) and to enjoy the city while they can.

               Now, Grace had no excuse to not go to the Gala even more. The two would have to pick up their attire for the event. That’s exactly what they did with the morning of the Gala. Groaning and making a stink the entire time, they two settled on a nearby store. Lucas, having a much easier time picking out his suit, it was pretty basic. A black suit with a dark green tie with a green handkerchief for the pocket. Easy enough, the lady assisting the pair was almost grateful at how easy it was, especially after hearing Grace’s unenthusiastic banter about the whole affair.

               Grace, surprisingly quiet inside the dressing room, tried on a few dresses and finally settled upon the green dress to try on. The dress was a form fitting, off the shoulder, green dress with lace sleeves. The dress had intricate lace patterns and a small train that accented the dress more. She didn’t come out of the dressing room with it on and immediately changed back. “That doesn’t look like a dress.” Lucas teased as she walked out of the dressing room in the same shirt and jeans she went in with, the green dress slung over her arm.

               Grace rolled her eyes. “I’m going with this one.”

“Not going to show me?” He asked.

               “You’ll have to wait and see.” She grinned, walking away from Lucas and to the front of the store. The assistant almost too happy to see the pair leave as they purchased their items and quickly left the store.

 

* * *

         

              

               Lucas noted how quiet Grace became the closer it came to the Gala. She had nothing really to say as the two quietly watched television in their hotel room, both sitting on their beds opposite one another. It wasn’t until it was time to get ready that Grace excused herself and went into the bathroom with the dress and a few other items they had picked up during the day.

               Lucas kept quiet as he stood up from the bed, he didn’t have to do much except stand there, his magic did the rest as his suit was now magically on his body. He adjusted the dark green tie so it sat perfectly around his neck. He checked his cufflinks, making sure they were fashioned properly before looking in the mirror. His green eyes staring back at him as he noted his hair really did get longer, and quite unruly. He made sure no strays were out of place and perfect. Now, he had to wait for Ms. Grace Harper.

               Almost an hour had gone by and the Gala was beginning soon. Luckily, the hotel was not too far, however, they had to take a cab regardless. That, from what he understood, was never an easy task. “Grace, it’s almost time to leave.” He said loudly so she could hear him. “Are you ready?”

               “Fashionably late is never a bad thing.” Grace joked. “Going not at all is also acceptable. We can always be overly dressed and get room-service pizza.” Lucas chuckled as the bathroom door opened and out stepped Grace in her dress. Her hair was brushed over her left shoulder, wavy as it fell down her shoulder. She cleaned up her makeup, black winged eyeliner along with a dark red lipstick.  “I look stupid.” Lucas turned to face Grace, ready to reply with a snarky remark only to find his words caught on his tongue. She was beautiful; he’d never deny her that. “You’re staring; I knew this dress was a bad idea.”

                Lucas quickly shook off his shocked expression and smiled. “You look ravishing, Grace.”

“Is this the part where you fall in love with me?” She asked with a nervous laugh. 

               “Excuse me?” He asked, choking on a laugh of his own.

“This is like every cliché romance movie.” Grace explained. “The guy and girl hate each other and then get dressed up really fancy and go to a party. Then they slowly fall in love?” She said, noting his dumbfounded look. “Oh, come on! You can’t be serious, it’s a huge cliché!”

               “I don’t watch romantic movies.” He said. “But, I can assure you, this is not the part where we fall in love.”

               Grace raised her eyebrows suggestively as she twisted his words. “But you’re saying there  _is_  a part where we do?”

Lucas just smirked. “What am I going to do with you, Ms. Harper?” Grace laughed before she finally got a good look at him. He was handsome and cleaned up nicely in a black suit with thin black tie to match; his hair slicked back perfectly. “Now who’s falling in love?” Lucas teased, catching her staring; not that it was hard to see.

Grace’s cheeks flushed red. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Lucas offered his arm. “Let’s.” He said confidently, Grace wrapping her arm around his and unable to hide her laughter as the two left the hotel and headed for what felt like the seventh layer of Hell.

 

* * *

 

 

 

               When the two walked into the Gala, Grace didn’t unhook her arm from Lucas’. Instead, she held on just a bit tighter. Lucas didn’t really mind, he knew this was a lot for her to handle. He was also grateful she didn’t vomit like she confessed she wanted to do over and over again within the cab. He leaned closer to Grace as she examined the room, noticing the beautiful women and handsome men, some she recognized. She also looked for all her emergency exits, just in case.

               “You look beautiful, Grace.” Lucas said softly. “You’ll be fine.”

Grace nodded. “I’m looking for the nearest exits.”

               Lucas chuckled. “I expected nothing less from you.”

“You know me so well.” She said dryly as they went further into the ballroom. Waiters in white suits wandered by, handing out appetizers and drinks to the party guests. Grace immediately grabbing the first glass of champagne she could find and chugging it. Lucas kept quiet for the first glass, stifling a chuckle as they stood awkwardly in the room.

               Grace noticed people staring, those who recognized her were making comments among themselves. She immediately felt out of place and wishing she could climb into a whole. That was until a certain Genius Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist wandered into the party and began receiving more attention. She was almost a little too grateful to see him.

               “That’s Tony Stark.” Grace said, nodding to his direction. “The man who made the device we used to measure energy.”

               “Ah—“ Lucas said. “Should we go thank him for building a broken piece of machinery?”

Grace smirked. “Hey, it got us the results we wanted.”

               “Yes it did.” Lucas agreed as he watched the mood of the room shift. People were relaxing more, even Grace was beginning to relax. The grip on his arm lightened up as she kept her eyes on the room.

“Ms. Harper!” Grace gripped a little tighter for a moment before letting go of Lucas all together as an older gentleman came over to the two. “It’s so good to see you, I’m so glad you could come!”

               Lucas noticed Grace was genuinely smiling, she seemed almost happy to speak to the older man. “Dr. Grossman.” She said. “It’s good to see you.” She motioned to Lucas. “This is my assistant, Lucas Larson. Lucas, this is my old professor and colleague, Dr. Patrick Grossman.”

               Lucas and Patrick exchanged a firm handshake and introduction before Dr. Grossman returned to speaking with Grace. “I’m very excited to hear that you’re receiving recognition for your work in Uganda.” He said. “That was one of your best excavations, one that the community still insists on today.”

               Grace’s smile dropped slightly. “I was honestly surprised to hear I was being acknowledge for it.”

Dr. Grossman frowned. “What was done to you back then was not okay.” He said sharply. “You are one of my brightest pupils, you deserved better.”

               Grace shook her head. “It’s in the past.” She tried to explain, even though she truly didn’t share that sentiment. Lucas saw through that.

               Dr. Grossman nodded once more before taking Grace’s hand in his. “Well, it’s good to see you and I hope to see more from you within the community.” He looked to Lucas before uttering it being a pleasure to have met him before wandering off.

               “He seemed nice.” Lucas said in passing.

“He was the only one to try and fight for my reputation.” Grace said. “It almost cost him his own work. I left before that could happen.” She noticed her champagne glass was empty. “Damn it.”

               “What can I get you?” Lucas asked. “I’m feeling parched myself.”

“Whiskey and ginger ale.” Lucas raised an eyebrow curiously. “I need liquid encouragement.” She joked. Lucas grinned, promising his immediate return as he headed for the bar.

               Grace was alone now, staring out at the crowd and feeling out of place. She almost didn’t realize music had begun playing and people were slowly dancing to it. It seemed surreal to be here; she didn’t belong. She knew she didn’t. These people were no longer her own. She had Lucas, and as much as it pained her to admit that, he was all she needed. They could do their own research, go on their own digs. He’d be by her side, right?

               “Grace?” Grace stopped and turned to see a very handsome brunette in all black, a platinum blonde on his arm with a long red dress. “Grace, is that you?” His rhetorical question was cut short as he broke away from the blonde and moved closer to Grace, hugging her instantly. “I’m surprised you made it.”

               “Roger.” Grace said dryly, no emotion in her voice as she pulled away from him.

Roger looked at her in disbelief. “You can’t still be mad at me, can you?” He asked. “Grace, that was so long ago. Everyone’s forgotten about your little obsession. You’re even getting an award.”

               Grace narrowed her eyes. “You really think everyone’s forgotten?” She asked. “I haven’t been allowed back into this community for years thanks to you. I haven’t been taken seriously for anything now, because of you.”

               “I thought you’d be more grateful that I helped you get this acknowledgement tonight.” Roger said. “I thought you’d at least want to try and repair our friendship at least.”

               “Friendship?” Grace nearly shouted. “You think we could be friends?” She barely had time to register or even yell about this whole thing being setup by him. “You discredit my work, get me removed from the community I loved, left me for your assistant—“ She looked next to Roger. “Hi Catheryn.” She said with disgust. “And you think that having the community acknowledge me would make everything okay?”

               Before Roger could answer, Lucas had returned with his drinks and stood close to Grace’s side. “Is everything alright?” His voice like velvet as he stared down Roger.

               The group went awkwardly silent before Roger reached his hand out. “I’m Roger.”

Lucas didn’t hand his hand, and not just because he was holding two drinks. “Charmed, I’m sure.” He said, looking down at Grace. “Would you care to dance, Grace?”

               She hated dancing, she didn’t even care. “Yes, I would.” She said, taking her drink and Lucas’ arm. She needed to get away from Roger as fast as possible. The two wandered towards the dance floor, Lucas had placed his glass with a waiter, Grace had already chugged hers and gave it to the same waiter. Before she knew it, she was in his arms, the two dancing.

               “Who is Roger?” Lucas asked softly. Although, he already knew the answer.

“My ex-husband.” She said through gritted teeth. “He set this whole thing up so the community would add my name to the achievements list. He hoped it would allow us to be friends again.”

               Lucas scoffed. “He’s an idiot.”

“Tell me about it.” She said, relaxing as the two swayed to the music. Grace realizing just how close she was to Lucas now as they danced.

               “I’m sorry this didn’t turn out the way we had hoped.” Lucas said.

Grace sighed. “It’s fine, you didn’t know.” She said. “I just really don’t want to be here.”

               Lucas thought for a moment, his hand tightening slightly around Grace’s as his other hand slide a little further across the small of her back. “What was that other idea you had?” He asked. “Room-service pizza in our fancy getup?”

               Grace rolled her eyes playfully. “You’re not serious.”

“I am.” He said with a devious grin before dipping Grace. She let out a hearty laugh, something Lucas had never heard from her before, as the pair stood back up straight. In that moment, Lucas realized he’d give anything to hear her laugh like that again.  

               It didn’t matter to Grace the looks the two had been receiving for their dancing, or her outburst. She didn’t care. She just wanted to stay lost in this haze with Lucas and remain ignorant. “Alright.” She gave in. “Let’s go back to the hotel.”

               And so they did.

  

* * *

 

  

              Grace held her gold stiletto heels loosely in her grasp, dangling to her side as she shuffled next to Lucas; his jacket flung over his shoulder lazily, his posture unmatched. Grace would eye him carefully out of the corner of her eye; he was so graceful even when he wasn’t trying. This bothered the girl as he danced his key card in his free hand. He twirled his key card once more as the two stood in front of his hotel room door, and with one swift swipe he opened the door, allowing Grace to walk in first. The promise of room-service pizza lingering on her mind.

                Grace dropped her shoes on the floor and wandered deeper into the room. “I hate heels.” She groaned. She had found the mini-bar earlier that day; she had radar for this sort of thing. Her excuse for taking anything out of the refrigerator was that SHIELD was paying for it. Lucas merely laughed in reply.

                “There is champagne on the desk.” Lucas stated as he walked to the desk, taking the champagne out of the ice bucket; noting the two glasses next to it. “We could toast.”

                “To what would we need to toast for?” Grace asked as she scanned the room for a bottle opener, failing to deliver.

                Lucas just chuckled as removed the aluminum wrapping on the top of the bottle. “Have you forgotten this celebration is still for you?”

                Grace grimaced slightly as she set the beer down on the dresser and walked to the bed, plopping down with as little grace as possible. “No, this party was a ruse.”

                Lucas popped the cork which caused Grace to jump slightly as she watched him pour two glasses of champagne. Holding both glasses, he handed one to Grace before leaning up against the desk. “Well, I am toasting to you. We never got to celebrate the church finding; that is an achievement we have come so far.”

                “ _We?_ ” Grace snorted as she looked at the champagne flute. “ _My_  research has gotten me so far, a promising start, and a very frustrating assistant.” She looked through her glass flute to see Lucas purse his lips slightly; she may have hurt his feelings if she wasn’t so convinced he had none in the first place. “But yes.” She continued. “A step I would have not achieved without you.”

                “Why Grace, that is the nicest thing you have ever said to me.” Lucas mocked.

Grace shrugged. “I can be nice at times.” Lucas grinned slightly as Grace continued. “As my assistant for so long—“ She began as she swirled the champagne in the glass. “I haven’t thanked you, for everything.”

                Lucas scoffed. “You’re getting sentimental on me, Grace.”

“Not really.” She continued. “You’ve put up with me longer than anyone has in a long time.” She admitted. “We should be toasting to you.”

Lucas began to realize in that moment that Grace was just as vulnerable as the next person. However, she carried herself above that. Deep down, sure the insecurity was there. She was someone who seemed to always have the men she cared about leave her. Granted, one was not by choice. She was damaged goods yet, she was making it work. “You’re proving him wrong, you know. Your research shows it, you’re making a change.” Lucas said. “You’re absolutely brilliant with what little you have to work off of.”

Grace blushed slightly, heat rising to her cheeks as she chugged her champagne again. “ _Now_  who’s saying nice things?”

                Lucas chuckled. “We can be tolerant of one another.” Grace just smiled in response. Lucas took his first sip of champagne.

                “We’re meant to be, Lucas. We are rejected by the people who are supposed to love us most.” She sighed, one last chuckle escaping her lips as she looked at Lucas. “We hate each other yet we understand each other perfectly.” She stood from the bed, walking towards the large window of the hotel.

                “I think you’ve had enough champagne.” Lucas commented from behind as he placed his glass on the desk.

                Grace smiled to herself. “It’s silly, right? Imagine,  _us_ , getting along.”

Lucas had closed the gap between them, now standing beside her at the window. “What a dreadful idea.”

                “Indeed.” Grace confirmed.

“Next you’ll trust me with all of your research.” Lucas joked, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

                Grace nodded, taking in the scenery before her. The glowing city lights in the dark night sky, an airplane flying by in the distance, blinking like an outgoing star. “It’s a pretty city, isn’t it?” She asked rhetorically, biting her lip nervously. Lucas hummed slightly in response, he was a little less interested in the sight, and his focus was on the red head next to him. She knew he was watching her, it was that lingering feeling she felt every time he was in the same room as her. “You’re staring.” She noted.

                “Can you blame me?” Lucas joked. “Care to tell me what you’re thinking?”

Grace shook her head before sighing. “Possibly, maybe, I don’t know.” She was slightly flustered. Lucas just chuckled at her response. “I don’t want to. I know against my better judgment I shouldn’t.” Grace turned to face Lucas this time; he turned in response, meeting her gaze. “I don’t understand why I do, but I do. I trust you.”

                Lucas’s lips curled in the corners, slightly, but the smirk was slightly evident. He was shocked; he was truly and honestly shocked that Grace had finally come to trust him. “Am I the first you’ve trusted since  _him_?” Grace nodded in reply, causing Lucas to let his shoulders slump slightly. “Well, against my better judgment, I trust you too.” Lucas said. “I don’t understand why either, but I do.”

                Grace narrowed her eyes. “You’re mocking me.”

Lucas laughed loudly, rolling his eyes as he rubbed his temples. “See? You really don’t trust me.”

                “I find you to be arrogant and childish.” He scoffed at her reply. “However, I trust you with my life and my life’s work.”

                No matter how hard he tried to show his lack of emotion, Lucas truly was shocked and somewhat grateful for her trust. He knew how much it meant to her, he knew what it meant to be someone she could count on. “Thank you.” Was his simple reply as the two continued their standoff, eyes never leaving one another until there was a knock at the door.

                Grace looked to the door as Lucas watched her move towards it. “Must be the pizza.” She said, answering the door and accepting the pizza delivery.

                Lucas looked out the window once more to the city, his thoughts lost in having Grace’s trust and at the same time feeling somewhat torn at what that truly meant for the both of them. Things would get complicated soon, what was he to do?

 

* * *

 

 

               The two ate pizza and watched old movies on the hotel television, making passing comments about how ridiculous they looked in their outfits as they ate not-so-great pizza. However, that didn’t matter. Grace was feeling at ease. Even after the events of earlier, Grace really felt peace.

               Grace was the first to fall asleep, still in her dress and slumped over her bed in what looked to be too uncomfortable for Lucas. However, he continued to watch her sleep regardless. How relaxed she looked, her breathing steady and calm. He began to feel that awful guilt again in his gut as he reminded himself that this could never last.

               Then again, could it? What if he gave up his obsession? What if he gave all of that hatred up and just stayed here with Grace? Surely, that wasn’t the worst outcome. They could find new discoveries and still work on the Tesseract together. Perhaps someday he would tell her the truth in all this, and after her immediate hatred for him after that, she’d come around. Then maybe the two could travel to Asgard. Maybe Lucas could mend the bridge that was broken. Maybe things could be wonderful.

               Nothing gold could stay. Nothing good ever could. Not now, not ever, as Lucas was pulled into the Astral Plane by the same hideous creature he had come to know in this short time.

 

                _“It’s time, Asgardian.” The Other hissed._

_Lucas shook his head. “I have changed my mind. I do not wish to go further into this darkness any longer.”_

_The Other stiffened. “Do you deny us? Do you deny **him**?” He spat. “There is no going back now, Asgardian.”_

_“If I refuse?” Lucas dared. His immediate instinct returning back to Grace._

_“We have ways of making you.” He sneered. “And we will start with the girl.”_

_Lucas found himself between a rock and hard place. He knew his options ran thin. He also knew he had to protect Grace. He was torn and there was nothing he could do. “What must I do?”_

_The Other presented Lucas with a staff with a glowing blue orb in the middle. He placed the tip of the staff to Lucas’ chest. Lucas jumped slightly, a blue mist coming from the staff and trailing up his body. He could feel every part of him, every resisting factor being pulled apart. The blue mist clouding his mind and judgement. He was still there, he was still pushing through. However, he was no longer in full control. His green eyes turning a light crystal blue, the Other knew the struggle was over now. “The door will open soon.” He said as he handed Lucas the staff. “Use this to come to us.”_

_Lucas nodded, feeling his mental state being forced back to the hotel room._

 

               Grace still slept soundly, the television still playing old black and white movies as Lucas snapped back into reality. He could feel the pull from the Other and Thanos, the pull into the direction of his ultimate plan. Grace would understand someday, she had to. For now, he had to leave her.

               Lucas walked over to the nightstand where a small notepad and pen were by the phone. He scribbled the only thing he could think of, looking up at Grace one last time. He was determined to keep her safe. He was the only one who could. With a final glance, Lucas used his new staff to physically cross out of the mortal plane and into the existence of another, leaving Grace Harper alone in the hotel room.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading guys! Remember to leave a comment or kudos if you'd like!


	8. Loki of Asgard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the truth shall set you free! .... or rather cause a whole lot of confusion, chaos and problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry for the delay in posting. It's been a busy few weeks for me. Here's the next chapter, all apologies for the shortness. The next chapter will be much longer. Remember to comment and kudos if you like what you're reading! I love hearing from you!

When Grace woke the next morning, she woke with an awful headache. Too much television, pizza and champagne. That must have been it. She regretfully and somewhat painfully rolled over to face the other bed (to laugh at Lucas and his own misfortune). Disappointment washed over her face as she looked at the untouched and empty bed across from her. Slowly, Grace sat up. Her face showing her disappointment, she didn’t care to hide it.

               She listened carefully, not hearing any movement in the room. He wasn’t in the bathroom either, the door was open. She bit her lip, wondering if he had gone to get coffee or something. Her eyes wandering to the nightstand between both beds. The notepad catching her attention as she saw something scribbled on it. Grace picked up the note, expecting it to confirm her suspicions of Lucas grabbing coffee, only to be met with something much worse. ‘ _I’m sorry._ ’

               Grace felt a pit in her stomach begin to form as she stumbled off the bed and raced to her carryon bag, rummaging through it only to feel some relief wash over her as she saw her notebook still there. He didn’t take it. However, Grace realized exactly what the note meant then. Lucas was simply gone and he was never coming back.

 

* * *

 

              

               A week had gone by, Grace had informed Phil Coulson of Lucas’ departure. She made up an excuse that he had family matters to attend to and that she would be continuing alone. Her heart ached over it and she hated that it did. Another person had left her side. At least, she wasn’t too far attached to him. Well, she forced herself to believe that.

               In that week, Grace received wonderful news from Phil. Her new accommodations were ready. She would move to a temporary apartment and outside of the hotel(a place she had grown to hate). An apartment complex that homed SHIELD agents living in New York City. She was almost a little too grateful to have a place to spread out in. Her obsession coming back in full force to make up for the absence of another. She didn’t care, she didn’t have time to care.

               It wasn’t until later in the week she received a private email from Phil Coulson with the location of the PEGASUS base, her security clearance card and a set time to leave the following week to finally see the Tesseract. She was beyond thrilled, however, still feeling a pit in her stomach that Lucas should have been there to see it with her. Her self-loathing was harder to hide that day as she ate half a pint of cookie dough ice cream to make up for it.

 

* * *

 

              

               It had only been two weeks; not even two full weeks as far as Grace had been concerned but, two weeks at best since Lucas had left. Not a word had been said, his whereabouts unknown, even to SHIELD and that worried her.

                Today, however, was slightly different. Today, Grace read from her notebook as she paced her apartment, biting into an apple haphazardly. She was to be brought to the PEGASUS base tomorrow morning to finally see the Tesseract, to finally meet with Dr. Selvig and finally work with him on the project. The day had come where she would see her life’s research in action; she had to be ready, no more distractions, no more lost thoughts on her missing assistant.

                That was when a knock came on her door, a noise Grace was unsure she had even heard in the first place. Yet, it knocked once more causing her to jump out of her trance before walking to it. “Great, just the distraction I didn’t need.” She joked, folding her notebook and placing it under her arm securely as she opened the door, groaning. Her heart raced as her cheeks flushed, unwarranted excitement taking over her as she saw the familiar face before her. “Lucas?” He couldn’t help but smile in response to her voice. “Where the hell have you been? We have work to do.” That was her immediate reaction as she stared Lucas down.

                “No Grace, I’m fine, thank you for asking.” Lucas replied sarcastically before motioning to her apartment. “May I come in?”

               Grace said nothing as she moved from the doorway allowing Lucas access as she closed the door behind him. Something was different about him, she noticed it in the way he walked. His face, and his eyes looked tired, like he had been awake the entirety of his absence. “Lucas, what happened?” Her tone was soft and somewhat worried.

                Lucas forced a smile. “Oh,  _now_  you worry for me?”

“I’m serious; we were celebrating our success, eating pizza—“ She paused. “You were gone.”

                Lucas pursed his lips, avoiding her gaze. “I was needed elsewhere.”

“ _I_  needed you here.” Her voice was mouse like, Lucas was unsure if he had even heard her correctly.

                Lucas’s forced smile turned into a more believable one at his colleague. “Grace, you are very capable on your own.”

A smirk tugged at her lips. “Yeah, but, I like hearing you tell me I’m right.” Oh how he missed her, he wouldn’t deny that. He couldn’t.

                “I am here now, aren’t I?”

“Just in the nick of time too.” Grace’s tone changed to an excited one as she pranced around her apartment in excitement.

                Lucas took this moment to examine her living conditions; a new apartment and boxes everywhere. He just smiled to himself; that was Grace. “There is something I would like to discuss with you.”

“Well, first, I hope you are able to pack your bags and come with me to the PEGASUS headquarters. I didn’t name it and quite frankly I think it’s dumb.” Grace said, handing a file to Lucas. “Phil will have to get you your clearance card but, we have access to the Tesseract. Lucas, we finally can see it.”

                He froze; his expression stuck in time as he looked at the file, realizing Grace could have been at that facility when it came down, she clearly was unaware. He had a very small window to explain everything to her. “That’s wonderful, Grace.” He forced the excitement.

                She noted his hesitation. “You’re not excited?”

He sighed, closing the file, knowing the contents were helpful but, having Grace on his side would be even more helpful. “Grace, I need to tell you something—“ He paused. “Something has happened.”

                “Oh god, I hope it’s nothing too boring.” She groaned.

“I assure you, it won’t be boring.” He tried to remain serious only to be interrupted by the sound of Grace’s cellphone ringing.

                Grace looked at him apologetically. “Give me a second, it’s probably Phil.”

“Don’t answer that.” Lucas warned as lightly as he could.

                “Lucas, I have to. I’m leaving in the morning; it’s probably just Phil trying to calm my nerves for the flight. I’ll be right back.” She said, turning her back from Lucas and heading into the kitchen where her phone vibrated across the counter.

                Grace answered the phone, before she could even get a simple ‘Hello’ in, Phil was already talking. “Grace, are you all right?”

                Grace scoffed. “Yeah, Phil, I’m not even on the plane yet.”

“Is Lucas with you?”

                Slightly unnerved by his question, Grace answered. “Yeah, actually, he just came to visit me. How did you know—“

“Grace, you need to get away from him.” Phil said his voice in a slight panic. “Listen to me, PEGASUS has been compromised. I’m sending a few Agents to your position now and we’re going to relocate you.”

                “Phil.” Grace swallowed hard, her vision growing foggy as she tried to steady herself. “What is going on?”

“Lucas is not who he says he is.” Phil said. “I need you to find a way to protect yourself, do whatever you need to do, we’re on our way.”

                “It’s Lucas, Phil. He wouldn’t hurt me.” Grace tried to argue, her voice not sounding confident in the slightest.

“Grace, this isn’t the time, please just listen to me. Don’t go near him, understand?” Phil heard silence on the other end. “I’ll see you soon.”

                “Bye…” Her voice trailed as she hung up the phone.

Her eyes trailed to her right at the knife block, her hand reaching for one of the many sharp utensils only to stop. “Please don’t do that, Grace.” A chill was sent up her spine as she let her hand drop, her body stiff as she turned to him.

                “What’s going on, Lucas?” She asked, her eyes narrowing. “Or should I even be calling you that?” 

                “Grace…”

“No!” She snapped. “No more lies, who are you?”

Lucas looked down; this was no how he wanted this encounter to go. He simply nodded, a golden glow surrounding him before he looked up at Grace, her eyes wide at his new form, his Asgardian armor. The sleep deprivation showing even more now on his face.  “I know this may be a lot for you to take in.” He said. “I am Loki of Asgard.”

She stared at him in disbelief before laughing sarcastically. “Of course you are.”

Loki smirked slightly. “Grace, I came here because I must warn you.”

                “I think Phil did a nice job of warning me.”

“A war is coming.” He continued, ignoring her remark. “I cannot promise your safety unless you come with me.”

                “Safety? You really think me going with you will keep me safe?” She scoffed.

“I am to rule this world and all who are in it.” Loki said, his voice becoming harsh. “I do not want you to be harmed in the process.”

                Grace pursed her lips, looking down at her feet. “So you expect me to go with you and stand idly by so you can take over the planet?”

                “You would help me unlock the Tesseract and use it to my—“

“Just stop.” She interrupted. “I’ve heard enough.”

                “Grace—“

“No, don’t  _Grace_  me.” She argued, anger flowing through her as she looked up at him once more. “You were the only person I trusted. I showed you my research, I let you in, and at the end of the day you’re just like everybody else.” She felt a lump in her throat. “I gave you access to the Tesseract, to SHIELD, I handed everything to you on a silver platter. I was just a pawn to your stupid plan, wasn’t I?”

                Although he would never show it, that comment stung him. “You are more than a pawn, Grace.” He said simply. “I would not be offering you safe passage if you were.” She shuffled awkwardly at his words, her eyes narrowing. “Last chance, Grace.”

She waved him off. “I’d rather die.”

It pained him, every part of his body screamed at him, wanting so much to just touch her and tell her he was sorry. He couldn’t. He had a job to do; at least, that’s what his mind was telling him. He reached out to her, against his better judgment. He reached out to touch her face, to wipe the tear that she probably didn’t even feel stream down her cheek. She was angry, she hated him, and he hated himself for it. He wasn’t in control of that, he knew it, but, the one thing he did control was his need to comfort her.

                Grace pulled away from him before he could touch her. “Just go.” She warned him.

Loki nodded, stubbornly against her will and his own mindset; he closed the gap between them, kissing Grace gently on the forehead; his hand resting on her cheek lovingly, wiping away the stray tear. “Please be safe.” He muttered against her forehead before his body deteriorated before her, disappearing once more.

                As if timed perfectly, the second he disappeared, Grace’s apartment door burst open as four Agents rushed in calling out to her. She would not answer, instead, she stood stiffly in the kitchen, her hand on her cheek where Loki’s had just been. She could still feel him and that thought alone killed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading, guys! Remember to comment and kudos if you like what you're reading! I love hearing from you!


	9. Blue Eyes, Green Eyes, it's all the same unless you're under mind control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace starts to learn more about the Tesseract and the mysterious staff within Loki's possession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just going to pretend I haven't been absent for months and just post a chapter... totally not suspicious at all... hey! Remember to comment and leave kudos!

* * *

 

Phil Coulson had arrived to the Helicarrier with Steve Rogers; his childhood hero. After gushing and embarrassing himself multiple times while talking to the Captain, he was still chipper as ever. That would all have to change however once he entered the observation deck; he was already receiving a cold stare from Director Fury. “Agent Coulson.” He greeted the Agent with little to no emotion.

            “Director Fury.”

“How are things?” He asked, Coulson knew that Fury was not actually asking about his wellbeing but, the wellbeing of the newly acquired Captain America, Dr. Banner, and their last remaining Tesseract specialist, Grace Harper.

            “Captain Rogers and Dr. Banner are currently on the deck with Agent Romanoff. Ms. Harper is in the infirmary.”

            “What for?” Fury asked, turning his attention to the panels of screens before him.

“She had a close encounter with Loki; we want to make sure she was not compromised like Agent Barton or Dr. Selvig.”

            Fury nodded as the door to the Observation Deck opened, revealing a stunned Steve Rogers, a nervous Dr. Banner, and a calmed Agent Romanoff. Steve had rummaged through his pocket quickly, pulling a crumpled $10 bill and handing it to Fury as he walked the deck. Fury smirked slightly before speaking to Dr. Banner. “Dr. Banner I want to personally thank you for making the trip out here.”

            “You didn’t give me much of a choice.” Bruce laughed nervously.

“Desperate times, desperate measures.” Fury replied.

            “So what will I be doing, exactly?” Banner asked curiously, eying his surroundings; something he was used to doing. He planned his escape routes if needed, calculated the amount of damage the ‘Other Guy’ could do. It was a habit now.

            “We need your help locating the Tesseract, I’m sure Agent Romanoff debriefed you on it.”

“Briefly, however, from what I understand the object itself radiates a form of gamma radiation that can be traced?”

            “You’re the specialist.” Fury replied, Banner just smirked at the remark. “Agent Romanoff, please show Dr. Banner to the lab.”

            Natasha smiled curtly. “C’mon Doc, we have all the cool toys.”

Bruce followed Natasha out of the Observation Deck and to the nearby laboratory. Fury turned his attention to Coulson. “What is our status?”

            “We have every telephone, satellite, camera; you name it searching for this guy. If he’s out there, we’ll find him.”

            Fury nodded. “Agent Coulson, go check on Ms. Harper, we are running short on time.”

With a quick nod, Coulson left the room and headed for the infirmary. He was prepared for the worst with Grace, not that she was compromised but, the anger she’d have for being in the large, flying, headquarters.

              

* * *

 

 

            They examined her eyes, her ears, her blood pressure, and even took blood samples. Grace was not happy to say the least. The Agents had rescued her and immediately relocated her to the Helicarrier. Luckily, she was packed for the PEGASUS base and didn’t need to do too much before leaving. She had her notebook at her side, her stuff already taken care of and placed in her sleeping arrangements.

            Regardless of all that, she was still in a very poor mood. “I promise you, none of this is necessary.” She grumbled as they took one last sample of blood. “I don’t even know why this is being done in the first place!”

“Because you may or may not be compromised.” Coulson had come in during the end of her rant, her immediate reaction was to narrow her eyes at him.

            “Compromised how?” She asked as the doctor removed the needle from her arm.

Coulson nodded to the doctor, signaling he needed alone time with Grace. The doctor took the samples and left the room swiftly. “At 21:30 hours, the PEGASUS base—“

               Grace interrupted him. “Enough with the protocol and stupid base names, Phil. I just want answers and I’d like them quickly.”

Phil sighed yet, appeased her request. “The Tesseract was _misbehaving_ as the notes would have it. We were told to evacuate the premises in case of an emergency. The Tesseract opened a doorway to… _something.”_

“A Cosmic split.” Grace awed.

Coulson nodded. “You’re going to love Dr. Banner.” He mused. “Loki appeared on the other side, wielding a staff that seemed to corrupt and control the minds of Agent Barton and Dr. Erik Selvig when coming in contact with it.”

            “He didn’t have a staff at my apartment.” She replied, biting her lip and avoiding Coulson.

Coulson placed his hand gently on the woman’s shoulder. He didn’t have to be psychic to know she was feeling complete and total regret. “We didn’t know Grace; no one knew who he really was.”

               Grace shook her head. “I trusted him, Phil.”

“We all did.”

            Silence overtook the room before Grace finally spoke. “What happens now?”

“We keep you safe at all costs. You’re our last resort as a Tesseract specialist. We have Dr. Bruce Banner on board as well to help you.”

            “Okay but, what are we supposed to be doing?”

“We need your help to locate the Tesseract and ultimately figuring out how to help Selvig and Barton.”

               Grace shook her head. “The mind control is not the Tesseract.” She said flatly. “There’s something with that staff, it seems.”

            Coulson smiled reassuringly. “This is why we need you.”

She smiled faintly. “Thanks, Phil.”

            “Let’s bust you out of here and get you to the fun stuff.” Grace’s smile grew as she followed Coulson out of the infirmary and to the laboratory where Dr. Banner resided.

              

* * *

 

 

           Dr. Bruce Banner began working the instant he reached the laboratory. It would be argued his eagerness was a symptom of his nerves and that he was distracting himself. Regardless, the man was hard at work determining the pulse of the Tesseract waves and tracing them to a similar form of gamma waves. To say Dr. Banner was an expert in gamma rays would be an insult, he was the best.

            He didn’t look up right away when the door opened revealing Grace and Phil, Grace would even think he were  unaware of their arrival; Dr. Banner was always aware of any changes around him. “Dr. Banner, I would like to introduce you to your helper, Grace Harper.”

            Bruce looked up, nervously smiling as he stood up straight and fixed his button down shirt before offering his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Harper. I’ve read your file, very impressive.”

 Grace grimaced as she took his hand and shook it firmly. “Thank you, Dr. Banner. I just wish I didn’t have such an extensive file on record.”

            “Extensive?” Bruce chuckled. “You should see mine.”

She smiled. “Anyway, we best start working. What are you up to?” Grace walked around the table to get a better view of the workspace.

            “Tracing the Tesseract by means of similar gamma waves to the waves received from the Tesseract.” Bruce began. “It has a higher frequency wave and I’m thinking we can trace its location using it.”

 “The Tesseract will constantly release energy, no matter how small. I’m sure Loki will be planning to test out his new toy, when that happens be ready for a jolt in readings.” She winced at the thought of Loki.

            Bruce smiled sympathetically. “I heard he pretended to be your assistant to get closer to the Tesseract, I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Glad to see you’re all right.”

 Grace shrugged. “Live and learn.” She’d deny her real feelings until her dying day.

           Bruce knew not to push the subject further as he pointed over to his station. “Let me show you what I have so far and we can compare.” He said, the two ignoring Phil Coulson as he snuck out of the room as they wandered to Bruce’s work station. He pulled up a few charts, showing the Tesseract and energy readings. “It’s definitely an energy source. It seems almost uncontrollable in most scenarios, which is curious as to why Loki would want it in the first place.”

           “He’s a God.” Grace said with a hint of malice. “He can handle harsh energies compared to humans. However, if it’s that unstable, I don’t think even he can control it.”

 “The machine Selvig used couldn’t handle the sheer force of the energy.” Bruce said. “However, I wonder if we could find a material that could.”

              Grace beamed. “Let’s get to work, Doctor.”

A few hours in the lab, Bruce and Grace had found a few different materials that could withstand the sheer force of the Tesseract. Most materials fell apart after a few runs of the simulation. That was until Grace suggested Vibranium, the same material she had found in Uganda. The same material Captain America’s shield came from. The two watched the simulation in awe as Bruce explained the readings he had found. “Dr. Banner, I think I’m in love.” She gushed, partially joking. Banner laughed nervously as she continued. “No, seriously, this is brilliant. This is even further than my research could have ever brought me. How did you come up with these readings?”

               Bruce had a small smile on his lips as he continued to mark down the different pulses. “Honestly, I had a lot of help with your notes from the site.” He motioned to the table across from them.

               Grace went wide eyed as she stumbled over to her notebook. “You had my notes?”

“They said I could use them, I’m sorry if I overstepped my boundaries.”

               Grace shook her head. “Not at all, I didn’t know they’d be helpful.” She smiled as she opened up her notebook and began rummaging through the pages. “To be honest, I’m quite flattered I was able to help.”

“May I ask how you were able to figure out the patterns? From what I gathered, your work is based off the mythos.”

            “Yes and no.” She began. “The mythos helped the preparation, the science helped the execution.”

Bruce raised a curious eyebrow. “Yes, but how did you learn all this?”

            "I’m not quite sure. Call it obsession, call it my life’s work; a hunch?” She stopped, her breath caught in her throat and a sketch of Lucas appeared on one of her pages. It was a quick sketch she had done, one to remind her of her assistant. Her assistant that had betrayed her trust, and apparently was really a Norse God. Her stomach turned slightly at the thought, her heart racing. She gave him all the information she had, he had everything because of her.

            “Ms. Harper?” Bruce asked, slowly walking over to her. He noticed the change in the color of her cheeks, her body shaking slightly. Something in her notes did this and he was curious as to what. He closed the gap between them, looking over her shoulder to see the sketch. “Grace, I’m really sorry about what’s happened to you.”

               Grace closed the notebook quickly, a few tears that seemed to come out of nowhere fell down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away before taking a deep breath, regaining some composure. “I gave him everything; well, almost everything. It’s my fault that he has any in depth knowledge about the cube.” She put the book back down and began pacing the laboratory.

            “You can’t think like that.” Bruce said, walking back over to the monitors. “Blaming yourself for the actions of others isn’t a good thing.”

               Grace pursed her lips before nodding slightly. Bruce was right, yet even though he was right, she still felt the pang in her stomach at the thought of it.

            The two were suddenly distracted at what seemed like the perfect moment. Bruce and Grace stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the hallway, looking out the windows as a group of soldiers came walking through, escorting the familiar man. Loki smirked as he looked into the laboratory, his eyes on Banner before locking to Grace. Something was off, Grace knew it immediately as they escorted him away.

            “Grace, are you all right?” Bruce finally asked, after shaking off his own nerves of the encounter.

Grace quickly stumbled to the book once more and flipped to the sketch of Lucas. Her eyes darting all over the page at the details of Lucas. “I could be mistaken, Dr. Banner.” She smiled slightly. “Which I hardly am.” Bruce rolled his eyes yet in a playful manner. “Do we have access to the files on Loki’s staff and the control over Dr. Selvig and Agent Barton?”

               Bruce shrugged, unsure where she was going with this. “I’m sure we can put in the request. What’s this about?”

               Grace began to smile. “I think I’m onto something.”

With that, the doors to the laboratory opened revealing the strong, stone face of Natasha Romanoff. “Dr. Banner, Ms. Harper, your presence is requested on the observation deck.”

            “No can do, Agent Romanoff. I need access to files, stat.” Grace began. “I can’t leave now, I think I’m beginning a breakthrough.”

Natasha smiled slightly. “Fine, I’ll just tell the God of Thunder that there are more pressing matters to attend to.”

Grace nearly stopped in her tracks as her heart raced in excitement, Natasha knew she had her. “Thor is here?” She nearly squealed as she clutched her notebook tightly. “Dr. Banner, our research must wait, we have to meet the God of Thunder!” Bruce chuckled as Grace ran for the door, practically skipping down the hallway to the Observation Deck.

* * *

 

 

              Grace couldn’t stop staring the moment she walked into the Observation Deck. Her heart was racing a mile a minute as she ignored the rest of the room and wandered straight to Thor. He was real, he was standing right in front of her, and he was huge. “Hello.” He said, offering a warm smile as Grace tried to form words.

           “I’m Grace.” She said. “And I’m so sorry for being awkward but, you’ll have to forgive me.” She explained. “I grew up on stories of you and Asgard and—“ She laughed nervously. “You’re real.”

           Thor looked over to Natasha who gave him an ‘ _I told you so_ ’ look as he looked back at Grace. “Well, it’s an honor to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you upon my arrival. Your work with the Tesseract, I’m told, is unparalleled.” He said. “I’d also like to see your work on Asgard, maybe I can be some assistance in filling in the gaps.” Grace nearly squealed with delight at his offer. The god of thunder, himself, was offering to help with input on her research. She felt like this was all a dream.

           “Yes, as wonderful as this moment is—“ Nick Fury interrupted, his typically pissed off demeanor showing. “We have a lot to discuss.”

           The group settled around the main conference table, Grace finally acknowledging the existence of everyone else. She had briefly met Maria Hill earlier upon her arrival, then she noticed the Star Spangled Man himself, Steve Rogers. Followed by her eyes locking onto the most arrogant man in the room, Tony Stark. He looked disinterested but, had a lot to say about radiation suddenly. Apparently, he became a professional overnight. Or so he claimed.

           “So what have we learned so far?” Nick Fury asked.

“We attempted to pair the energy levels along with different materials to find a stable component. Grace had suggested Vibranium, which seems to be the only consistent match so far.” Bruce explained.

           “Vibranium was reported stolen from the museum in Stuttgart.” Steve added. Their recent endeavor to retrieve Loki had proved that none of this was a coincidence so far.

           “What could he be planning with Vibranium?” Grace asked the group.

Stark replied smugly. “Currently, he’s planning nothing as he’s in a containment cell.”

           Nick nodded. “Stark, I need you to join forces with Dr. Banner and Ms. Harper. See if you three can come up with any leads on the Tesseract. The rest of you, we will work on our next plan.”

Stark shrugged. “I’d prefer that over boring meetings any day. Let’s go, team.” He said, clapping his hands together. Grace rolled her eyes as she followed suit to the lab. Reluctantly leaving the God of Thunder behind for now.

* * *

 

 

           “Alright, show me what we have so far.” Stark said, wandering over to the work station and immediately playing around with the data.

“We just have the current readings and are attempting to pull a ping through gamma rays.” Grace said dryly, her eyes trying to focus on anything but Stark.

           Stark nodded. “You know what’s interesting?” He began. “How an archeologist came to figure out these readings on her own, without any use of computers or measuring tools.” Grace finally looked at him, noting how Bruce seemed to hide away from that accusation as she narrowed her eyes. “I read your file—“ He started.

           “Has **_everyone_** read my file?” Grace asked, annoyed.

“Unfortunately, you’re not a secret.” Tony said. “You found Vibranium in Uganda, I gave you a grant for that expedition.” He said. “I don’t remember you specifically, I don’t care enough to lie about that. However, I’m really curious how you’ve been so accurate about this. I’m not the only one either, right Dr. Banner?”

              Grace looked at Dr. Banner whom was still trying to avoid confrontation. “Listen, I’m here to find the cube, that’s it.”

              Grace rolled her eyes. “I’m not hiding anything, if that’s what you’re insinuating.” She said. “Like I told Dr. Banner before, I honestly don’t know how I’ve come to find these things. Half my notes, which I’m sure you’ve read in my file, are from years ago. The spikes I drew were drawn way before I even assisted on this.”

           Stark stared her down for a few moments before loosening up. “That’s all I needed to hear.” He said. “There’s a lot going on in this air—“ He paused. “Thing and I don’t trust those suits any more than the rest of us.”

           “What do you mean?” Grace asked.

Stark pulled up the file on the PEGASUS base, showing Grace and Bruce the giant crater in the ground. “SHIELD had this power source all along and you’re telling me they just want to study it. They were poking and prodding for something. You can’t seriously think it’s all innocent.”

              Grace thought for a moment; that was exactly her feeling when she first started. He wasn’t wrong, there had to be more. “How do you plan to prove that?”

  “Oh, I already hacked into their systems. In a few moments we should have all the answers we need.” He winked. “This isn’t my first rodeo.” Grace actually smirked. “For now, let’s see if we can get a ping.”

           The door slid open as an agent wandered in carrying a large case and a flash drive. “Ms. Harper, Dr. Banner, you requested the files on Agent Barton and Dr. Selvig.” He said, handing the flash drive to Grace.

           “What’s that?” She asked, looking at the long case.

The agent wandered over to a table and opened the case, revealing a glowing blue light. “Director Fury believes you three can crack the secrets of the weapon the prisoner came with.”

              Grace tossed the flash drive to Bruce and immediately ran over to the case. His staff was lying in it, the blue orb at the top pulsating. She hadn’t seen it before now, yet looking at it sent something through Grace. Something was strangely familiar about all of this.

Grace hardly noticed the agent leave or Tony Stark walking over to her. “Ah yes, the glow stick of destiny.” He commented. “We should measure its energy, it’s probably similar to the same readings from the Tesseract.”

              Grace shook her head. “It’s not the same thing.” She said almost robotically, her gut feeling coming through. “Surely it’s similar but, it’s not the same.” She looked back to Bruce, whom was pulling up the files on Clint Barton and Dr. Selvig. “Dr. Banner, can you tell me if there were any physical changes to Agent Barton or Dr. Selvig?”

           Bruce began reading the files, looking for notable changes. “Just that they seemed unquestioningly obedient and their eyes were a very bright blue.”

              Grace thought back to her notes, how Loki definitely had green eyes when she met him, and how his eyes were definitely blue when he walked by. She had the evidence right before her, now she had to prove it. “Where have they taken the prisoner?”

           Stark watched as Grace’s brain began to process things, the way a puzzle was beginning to put itself together. Bruce was about to disagree in telling Grace but, Stark was faster. “The brig, it’s on the bottom floor, E Wing.” He wanted to see her in action as Grace said nothing before grabbing her notebook and heading for the brig. Stark looked back at Bruce. “She’s got something.”

           “Loki could be dangerous.” Bruce said.

“She’s a big girl, she can handle herself.” He said, walking back to the table. “For now, we have work to do.” He said, noting his files were almost done decrypting.

* * *

 

 

           Curiously enough, no one stopped Grace as she entered the Brig, walking as quietly as her converse sneakers would allow her. She walked to the hallway leading up to the far end doorway, the doorway that would take her to the large cylinder chamber designed to hold Dr. Banner. This chamber now held a different threat; it held the God of Mischief.

            She knew she had to prove her point on the change of eye color. Yet, she also needed to see him. She didn’t understand why. Whether it was the need for an apology or just the familiar companionship he gave her, she craved it. “Grace, you’re not very quiet.” Her heart raced in her chest, he knew she was there even before she entered the room.

            Inhaling deeply, Grace rounded the corner and shuffled in closer. He was already facing her, grinning slightly at his visitor. “Hi.” She breathed.

            “Hi.” He was still grinning.

“What are you doing?” She asked, folding her arms across her chest to help stop the shaking.

            “I’m standing in a cage.”

She narrowed her eyes. How she missed him. “No, what are you doing, what is your plan?”

            “That’s not a very effective way to start an interrogation.” He waved her off. “Besides, if you had come with me, you’d know my _plan_.”

“So I could be one of your zombies? No thanks.” He knowingly chuckled. She examined him more carefully; he looked impossibly tired and drained. In his eyes held pain and despair. “You look unwell, Luc—“ She corrected herself. “Loki.”

            “I’m the same person.” He said, referring to her slip.

Grace shook her head. “No, Lucas wasn’t trying to take over the world. He was simply out to annoy me.”

               Loki grinned, closing his eyes as he placed his arm on the glass to rest his head against it. “Am I not annoying you now?” His snarky grin turned into a simpler smile at the thought fondly of Grace. “I’ve missed your frustratingly complicated spirit.”

            “Is this the part where you fall in love with me?” She forced the joke, nearly stumbling over the words when she referenced a time that seemed so long ago. It hurt to relive that memory but, she did. She forced the memory in hopes to see it affect Loki in any way. She saw the twitch on his lips, it struck something.

            “No. Not yet.” He smiled brightly before opening his eyes and standing up straight, the smile washing away almost as quickly as it came. He looked like he was in pain. “Why are you here, Grace?” Her name was sickly sweet on his lips, even in his current state, she brought some clarity to his very filled mind.

            She began to nervously play with a string on her sweatshirt, avoiding his gaze for a moment. “You know me, constantly reveling in new discoveries.”

            He smirked. “And what, may I ask, is your _new discovery_ ”

Grace shrugged. “That’s classified, you’re no longer my assistant anymore. Any information I may be in possession of no longer concerns you.”

            He missed her; that he was certain of. He watched her shuffle awkwardly, biting the inside of her lips as she avoided him. “Come join me, Grace. Think of what we could do together.”

            She finally looked at him. “I can only think of bad things.”

“You’d be safe, out of harm’s way and you would finally get to see the Tesseract. You can even work with it.”

            Her legs were shaking as she walked closer to the containment cell, placing her hand on the glass as she looked up at him. “Why can’t we just go back to digging and arguing? I actually miss hating you.”

            He placed his hand over where hers rested, wishing for the contact. “I miss hating you too.”

Grace found herself laughing slightly. “We’re gross.”

            “Well, you did say we were going to fall in love in the most cliché sense.”

“Not yet.” She repeated his earlier words as she stared directly into Loki’s eyes. The flash of green appeared, but only slightly over the icy blue. That’s when Grace smiled slightly.

            “What is it?” He asked her, knowing that look all too well as she began to back away.

“I think I have an idea on what this is and how to fix this.”

            “And what exactly are you fixing?” Loki asked curiously.

“I’m going to help you and we’re going to stop this craziness, I know this isn’t you.”

            His eyebrows knitted together. “You don’t know who I am.” The blue became harsher in his eyes. He seemed almost in pain as he spoke. “Nothing can stop this and I recommend you pick a side sooner rather than later.” She was trying his patience, he didn’t want to give her an ultimatum but he had no choice. The last thing Loki wanted was for Grace to get hurt; best case scenario, she’d come with him. He knew that was a long shot. He also feared what would happen under this control, would he harm her? Would he use the mind control gem on her and change her to be more submissive? As appealing as that sounded he enjoyed Grace for her fire, he couldn’t do that to her.

               Grace watched him internally struggle, his look of pain and exhaustion only getting worse. “Loki.” She barely whispered his name, watching how it affected him. It was a simple recognition to his name, yet Loki knew it held promise. “I promise I’m going to fix this.”

           He said nothing as Grace walked away and out of the brig. He had to keep her safe, he had to protect her. This was the only way he knew how. Maybe with an army he could keep Thanos away from Grace? All in all, he just wished Grace would have come with him. His mind fogged again, he knew he’d have to save his mental state and let it take over once more as he sat on the small bench in his prison.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again for reading! Leave me something fun to come back to!


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